Frank Ketcham is a Captain on the Airbus A350 for a major U.S. airline, with more than thirty years of professional aviation experience and over twenty thousand flight hours across regional, major, and international operations. He holds an FAA Airline Transport Pilot certificate with type ratings on the Airbus A350, A330, and A320, and an Airline Dispatcher rating. He has served as a Flight Standards Line Check Pilot and Check Airman, and currently acts as Line Safety Coordinator responsible for safety oversight at nine major West Coast airports.
An aviation subject-matter expert engaged with the research community since 2010, he brings deep operational insight to the study of aviation safety, human factors, and the integration of emerging technologies into the transportation system. He holds an FAA Remote Pilot certificate and is a recognized specialist in unmanned aircraft systems, with extensive experience in UAS operations and safety. This background aligns directly with the Institute of Transportation Studies’ work on incorporating advanced aviation technologies into broader transportation networks.
He began flying as a teenager in gliders and remains an active glider pilot. He is an Experimental Aircraft Association member and owner-builder of a Van’s RV-14A, and he flies a Beechcraft Baron 58 for personal travel. He earned a degree in economics from the University of California, Davis, and an MBA from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.
His combination of long-term airline operational leadership, safety-system expertise, and practical knowledge of both manned and unmanned aviation positions him to contribute to research on aviation safety, airspace integration, and the evolving role of new aircraft technologies in the transportation system.
