David D. McBride

David D. McBride
Portrait in 2021
Alma materUniversity of New Mexico (BS, MBA)
OccupationAerospace engineer
Years active1982–present

David D. McBride is an American aerospace engineer. He was director of NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center from 2010 to 2022, where he also served as a lead flight systems engineer for the X-31 and X-29 experimental aircraft programs and as chief engineer for the X-33 program.

Early life and education

McBride earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of New Mexico in 1985. After his first year of college, he began his career at NASA in 1982 through a co-op specializing in digital flight control system analysis. He returned to intern at Dryden Flight Research Center each summer in college.[1] He returned to the University of New Mexico a decade later and earned an Executive MBA from the Anderson School of Management in 1998.[2]

Career

After graduating, McBride joined NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Mojave, California as a flight systems engineer. He became a lead flight systems engineer on the forward-swept wing experimental Grumman X-29 aircraft and helped lead thrust vectoring tests on the Rockwell-MBB X-31.[3] He also worked on Dryden's F/A-18 Systems Research Aircraft. McBride was the chief engineer for the uncrewed, reusable Lockheed Martin X-33 spaceplane project.[4][5]

He was appointed the associate director for flight programs and projects in 2007. As a program manager for NASA's Flight Research Program, the center flew the AeroVironment Helios Prototype solar-electric aircraft to an altitude of 96,863 ft (29,524 m), flew the Boeing X-53 Active Aeroelastic Wing, and performed flight testing of the Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS) based on neural networks on NASA's NF-15B.[6]

McBride became deputy director of Dryden on April 4, 2009,[7][8] and acting director on January 4, 2010, after Kevin L. Petersen.[9] He served as the tenth director of NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center until his retirement on December 4, 2022.[10][11][12] He is the longest-serving director of NASA Dryden/Armstrong. He was succeeded by Bradley Flick in 2022.

Under McBride, Dryden reached full operational capability with the modified Boeing 747SP Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) and completed flight evaluation of the Boeing X-48B/C experimental hybrid wing body aircraft from August 2012 to April 2013. The center also demonstrated the Orion spacecraft's pad and launch abort systems, used unmanned aerial vehicle to conduct global earth system science, and developed the fully electric NASA X-57 Maxwell and supersonic Lockheed Martin X-59 Quesst aircraft.[13]

After retiring from NASA, McBride runs an engineering consulting firm based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He showed public support for SpaceX's Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission, the first private mission to bring astronauts to the International Space Station.[14]

In 2024, McBride joined Supernal, Hyundai's Advanced Air Mobility eVTOL company, and was appointed CTO.[15][16] He resigned the following year along with the former CEO Jaiwon Shin.[17]

References

  1. ^ "McBride Retires as Longest Serving NASA Armstrong Director – NASA". NASA. June 30, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2026.
  2. ^ "NASA's AFRC Director McBride Retiring | Aero-News Network". Aero News Network. May 29, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
  3. ^ Iannotta, Ben (February 9, 2017). "At the center of the X-plane revival". Aerospace America. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
  4. ^ "David D. McBride Named Director of Dryden Flight Research Center – NASA". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. June 5, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2026.
  5. ^ "David D. McBride – NASA". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved February 23, 2026.
  6. ^ Brown, Alan (June 5, 2013). "NASA Dryden Director Kevin Petersen to Retire in April – NASA". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved February 19, 2026.
  7. ^ "David McBride Appointed Deputy Director at NASA Dryden – NASA". NASA. June 5, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2026.
  8. ^ "Center Director David McBride – NASA". NASA. Retrieved February 23, 2026.
  9. ^ Hispanic Engineer & IT. McBride Promoted to Dryden Flight Research. 2010. p. 7. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
  10. ^ "NASA Announces Armstrong Flight Research Center Director to Retire – NASA". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. May 23, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2026.
  11. ^ "Future of Aerospace with NASA Director David McBride". Happenings at WashU. Washington University in St. Louis. Retrieved February 23, 2026.
  12. ^ Register (U.S.), Office of the Federal (August 22, 2011). The United States Government Manual 2011. Government Printing Office. ISBN 978-0-16-087470-3. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
  13. ^ "NASA Names New Dryden Flight Research Center Director". SpaceNews. January 7, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
  14. ^ Hart, Mike (May 27, 2020). "NASA official David McBride excited for historic launch of Space X". KERO 23 ABC News Bakersfield. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
  15. ^ "Supernal Appoints David McBride Chief Technology Officer". Supernal. PR Newswire. March 25, 2024. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
  16. ^ Hardee, Howard (March 25, 2024). "Supernal's new chief technology officer David McBride to lead air taxi development". Flight Global. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
  17. ^ "Hyundai's eVTOL startup Supernal pauses work following executive departures, TechCrunch reports". Retuers. September 7, 2025. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
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