Walter R. Peck - The aviation life support community recently lost a most distinguished citizen. Still active in the career field he loved, Walter Peck, 83, passed away on October 19, 2009 after a brief illness. He embodied the goodness in character that represented the best from a life lived in service to others. Known in the ejection seat industry as a research engineer and innovator, Walter brought a dedication and passion for inventing life-protecting technologies that was empowered by a private life as a Bible teacher, local church elder, and philanthropist.
He completed Bachelors and Masters Degrees, as well as significant post graduate work at North Carolina State University and later MIT, in electrical and mechanical engineering. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, where he served at Los Alamos, New Mexico, during World War II. As vice president for Research and Development at Stencel Aero Engineering, Mr. Peck became well known in the aerospace industry for innovations in aircraft safety systems. He is known primarily for  his pioneering work in expanding the safe ejection envelope in zero-zero, adverse attitude, and high sink rate conditions though design innovations in seat propulsion, stability, and  recovery systems.  These technologies were applied as both retrofits to older fighter escape systems in the mid 1960’s and refined and improved for higher reliability, lower weight and maintenance models of the early 1970’s.  Employed at LME, Inc since 1988, he continued his contributions to the industry working on subsystem concepts for fourth generation escape systems, and analyzing seat-and-human performance under extreme conditions for the US military. Active and vital in the few weeks before his passing, Walter was continuing refinements to his original concept work on an injury reduction safety system for combat helicopter crews involved in survivable crash impacts.
During his professional career, he presented papers to many professional organizations. Widely respected in the industry, in 1991 he was awarded the SAFE Association’s M. P. KOCH Award for significant contributions to the advancement of hardware for safety applications, and in 2005, the SAFE Association Award for Career Achievement for significant contributions in the field of safety. As noted in his awards, Walter Peck gave selflessly to others in being a counselor to many young engineers and technicians. Notably, Walter’s objectivity and character of conscience transcended corporate and government customer affiliations.  He also gave generously in his private life in being a decades-long volunteer, spiritual teacher, and leader in his church community.
So many aircrew members owe their lives to the real pioneers who dedicated their talents to inventing, testing, and building reliable life-saving systems. Many are alive today because of Walter Peck’s contributions. Many more are better people for having spent just a short time talking to, having an enduring friendship with, or sharing a career path with such an inspiring, creative, and generous man.