Ricardo Traven is the chief test pilot on the Super Hornet program for The Boeing Company. A graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School and a former U.S. Navy Test Pilot School instructor, Ricardo has more than 18 years of experience as a fighter pilot and test pilot. He retired from the Canadian Forces as a Major and joined Boeing in 1997.
Ricardo has published numerous SETP technical papers on flight-testing the F/A-18 at high AOA, spin testing, and the F/A-18 flight control system. He is a two-time recipient of SETP’s Jack Northrop Award, a three-time recipient of The Ray E. Tenhoff award and a two-time recipient of “The best paper” at the European symposium. He was named the U.S. Navy test pilot of the year in 1995. He has served as the secretary and treasurer of the East Coast section and was the East Coast section chairman in 2000 and 2001. On the National Board he has served as Legal Officer, Treasurer, Secretary and is currently the Vice President of the Board of Directors. He was the Symposium Chairman in 2003 and is the Banquet Chairman for 2006.
During his career Ricardo has flown more than 3,500 hours in more than 30 models of aircraft, including the F-16, F-15, A-7, F-4, F-5 and T-2. Ricardo has logged more than 2,700 hours in all models of the Hornet and more than 600 hours in the Super Hornet.
