Amanda Taylor

United States of America

 

From VFS Updates - Awards & Recognition: Vertiflite November/December 2021

Aerospace Medical Association Honors Amanda Taylor

Amanda M. Taylor has received the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) 2021 John Paul Stapp Award for her remarkable contributions to aviation safety over the past 14 years: “These include outstanding investigation skills, being unequaled in mentoring and other outreach efforts, and having been a collaborator in the design and installation of the new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) impact sled.”

Since May, Taylor has been a Survival Factors Investigator at the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), but the award recognizes her contributions during as a research engineer for the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute’s Protection and Survival Laboratory. Her research was primarily in the area of occupant protection by conducting crash tests from components to full-scale impacts, overseeing various university research programs, and working with the military, NASA and other civil aviation authorities. She has been called upon to assist in various types of accident investigations and presents research findings at various locations.

She is a member of AsMA, VFS and SAE International, and serves on the SAE Aircraft Seat Committee and on the VFS Safety and Crash Safety Technical Committees. According to the AsMA press release on Sept. 3, Taylor has been a soughtafter aviation safety lecturer in the fields of biomechanics and injury research. Her development of quantitative injury metrics provided guidance in the use of anthropomorphic test devices for vertical impacts. She has published several papers on the safety of aircraft seats and restraint systems.

The award was established and sponsored by Environmental Tectonics Corporation to honor safety pioneer Col. John Paul Stapp, US Air Force (ret.). The award is given annually to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of aerospace biomechanics and to promote progress in protection from injury from ejection, vibration or impact.

Society Update: Vertiflite, November/December 2021