posted 02-17-2011 12:35 PM               

AIAA Mourns the Death of Past AIAA President Bastian J. "Buzz" Hello

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) mourns the death of Bastian J. "Buzz" Hello, president of AIAA from 1989 to 1990, and retired vice president of the aircraft division at Rockwell International. Mr. Hello passed away in Potomac, Md., on February 12, 2011.

AIAA President Mark Lewis, chair of the aerospace department at the University of Maryland, College Park, stated: "The members and staff of AIAA are saddened by the loss of Buzz Hello, our former president, and proud graduate of the University of Maryland. His leadership, both of the Institute, and of the aircraft division at Rockwell Collins, was an outstanding testament to hard work and dedication in the name of engineering excellence."

Hello began his career at the Glenn L. Martin Company, where he created booster rockets for ICBMs. He then went to work at Rockwell Collins, where he ran Rockwell's operations for NASA at Cape Canaveral. Hello managed the Apollo program, working on Apollo 7 through Apollo 12, before being sent to Rockwell's California location to work on development of the space shuttle orbiter. After his work on the space shuttle, Hello became vice president of Rockwell's Aircraft Division, where he oversaw the development and manufacturing of the B-1 Bomber. He retired as vice-president of Rockwell International's aerospace group, but continued to actively consult on management issues for Rockwell.