HOUSTON, Texas — The Lone Star Flight Museum has revealed the Class of 2020 for induction into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame.
A panel of aviation historians, authors, publishers, archivists and aviation experts selected NASA’s George W.S. Abbey, Colonel (retired,) astronaut Eileen M. Collins, airline entrepreneur Usto Schulz, and ForeFlight CEO Tyson Weihs from a field of more than 100 candidates.
The four will be inducted into the Hall of Fame May 8 at the Lone Star Flight Museum at Houston’s Ellington Airport.
2020 Texas Aviation Hall of Fame inductees
George W.S. Abbey
With a bachelor’s degree in general science from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology, George W.S. Abbey flew both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, logging more than 5,000 hours in the air. Serving as the USAF technical liaison at Boeing on the Dyna-Soar, SST and Lunar Orbiter projects, he was later detailed to NASA in 1964. In 1967, Abbey left the Air Force and was named technical assistant to the JSC Center Director during the Apollo, Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz programs.
In 1976, Abbey was named NASA’s Director of Flight Operations, and was responsible for overall direction and management of flight crew and flight control activities for all human space missions. In 1988, he was appointed Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Flight at NASA Headquarters, and later appointed Senior Director for Civil Space Policy for the National Space Council in the Executive Office of the President. In 1992 Abbey was named Special Assistant to the NASA Administrator before being named Deputy Director of Johnson Space Center in 1994 and then JSC Center Director from 1996 to 2001. After retirement from NASA in 2003 he became Senior Fellow in Space Policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Eileen M. Collins
Raised in Elmira, New York, Col (ret) Eileen Collins earned her B.S. from Syracuse University. She was commissioned in the US Air Force and graduated from Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance AFB in 1979. After T-38 instructor duties at Vance, she transitioned to the C-141 Starlifter. During her service, Collins pursued a Master’s degree in operations research from Stanford and a Master’s in space systems management from Webster University.
She was assistant professor of mathematics and a T-41 instructor at the US Air Force Academy from 1986-1989, and in 1990 graduated from the Air Force Test Pilot School and was selected as an astronaut in 1991.
She flew as a pilot on Mission STS-63 in 1995, becoming the first female Space Shuttle Pilot. She also served as pilot for STS-84. Collins then became the first female commander of a U.S. spacecraft on STS-93 in 1999.
In 2005, she was the commander of STS-114, the first “return to flight” mission after the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia. She was the first astronaut to fly the Space Shuttle through a complete 360° pitch maneuver.
Collins retired from NASA in 2006 and works as an aerospace consultant and professional speaker.
Usto Schulz
A Texas-native, Schulz enlisted in the Army in 1943 and after earning his wings in 1944 was stationed at Hondo Air Base, Texas, as a pilot and engineering officer. Later stationed at Ladd Field, Alaska, he became a cold weather pilot flying C-45s, C-46s, C-47s, C-54s, B-17s and B-25s and R-4 helicopters.
From 1947 to 1957 he was a commercial pilot with Arctic Pacific Air and Wien Alaska Airlines, before joining the CAA (forerunner to the FAA) in 1957. Beginning as an air carrier inspector and an instructor for pilot certification he later transferred to FAA Headquarters. Schulz earned his DC-9 type rating and became the Executive Officer of In-Flight Standards Service.
As an independent consultant from 1975 to 2005 Schultz assisted airlines with management practices and ensuring FAR compliance. After industry deregulation, he assisted airlines with FAA air carrier certification.
Beginning in 1992, he worked with Morris Airlines to bring operations into compliance with FAA certification and assisted with certification as the first airline to use the heads-up displays and transition to fully digital electronic operations. In 1998, Schulz was asked to join a team creating a new airline and to run the certification process. Becoming involved with the selection and purchase of aircraft, Schulz guided JetBlue Airways through its certification process before retiring in 2005.
Tyson Weihs
Born in South Carolina, Tyson Weihs received a Bachelor of Science from Trinity University in computer science and an MBA from Rice University. Weihs is the CEO of ForeFlight, a Texas-based software company that employs over 200 people in Houston and Austin.
Weihs’ software has revolutionized flight planning, in-flight weather, and was first to bring the concept of an electronic flight bag to the iPad.
In addition to the hundreds of thousands of private and corporate pilots who rely on ForeFlight for planning and in-flight decision making, the Department of Defense depends on the ForeFlight Military Flight Bag version of the application.
ForeFlight is also the provider of Jeppesen’s FlightDeck Pro EFB used by airline pilots around the world.
ForeFlight provides pilots with in-flight weather, traffic awareness, safety alerts, synthetic vision, and other decision-making tools. These features have saved countless lives and represent one of the biggest technological innovations since GPS was certified for airplanes. He currently lives in Houston.
The Texas Aviation Hall of Fame was established in 1995 to recognize Texans and Texas companies or organizations that have made significant and lasting contributions to the advancement of aviation. There are 76 individuals and groups in the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame, in four categories: Trailblazers and explorers, wartime aviators, leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators.