Keith B Armstrong

Dr. Keith Armstrong is well respected for his many years of experience in advanced composite aircraft structures. He is best known for his involvement at British Airways in the development of carbon fiber/Nomex honeycomb floor panels. These panels were the first carbon fiber composites to fly on commercial aircraft, and most flooring in modem commercial aircraft meets specifications that evolved from these early composite structures. Dr. Armstrong earned an M.Sc. in 1978 and a Ph.D. in 1990 in adhesion science from The City University in London, England. His career began in 1948 at Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd., Weybridge, as an aviation apprentice and then as a design draftsperson. He subsequently served as a technical officer in the Royal Air Force and later as an experimental officer at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington. Dr. Armstrong spent the next 24 years of his full-time career with British Airways. In addition to his work on carbon fiber/Nomex honeycomb floor panels, he developed many new methods during the infancy of the industry. For many years, he was responsible for all composite and bonded metal repairs and for all windows in the British Airways fleet. He later served as a consultant to Du Pont on composite repairs using Nomex honeycomb and Kevlar and then as a quality audit engineer for Aerobond U.K. and a composite repair specialist for Monarch Airlines. From 1988 to 1991, Dr. Armstrong chaired the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Composite Repair Task Force, and he continues to participate in the Training Task Group of the SAE International (SAE), IATA, Air Transport Association (ATA) Commercial Aircraft Composite Repair Committee (CACRC). He is a member of SAE International, the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE), and ASTM International. He is also a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and the Institution of Materials, Minerals, and Mining. He has received awards from the FAA and SAE for his work for CACRC. Dr. Armstrong has written more than 30 technical papers and compiled the Composites and Metal Bonding Glossary published by SAE. He has lectured part time at Brunel, Bristol, and Plymouth universities and at Brooklands College and East Surrey College. He continues to work part time at Kingston University. He held a private pilot’s license for 28 years, is keen on family history and has been a member of the Methodist Church for more than 50 years.