Francis Govers - Special Missions Manager

Francis grew up in a small town called Houma, Louisiana, sixty miles south of New Orleans. He started his career as a Satellite Communications specialist in the Air Force, and after getting out of the service and finishing college at Texas State University, he worked at NASA as one of the lead engineers on the International Space Station.  Other notable positions have included Director of the Advanced Simulation Laboratory, Head of Flight Simulation for F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and inventor of the Decision Support Center for SGI.  Francis has an extensive background in unmanned vehicles, as the Deputy Chief Engineer for Unmanned Ground Vehicles for the US Army’s Future Combat Systems, a participant in the DARPA Grand Challenge race, and as Chief Engineer for Elbit Systems of America.  Recently he served as Vice President for Engineering at Sportvision, the company responsible for the “yellow line” first and 10 markers seen on NFL games.  He is a commercial rated pilot and FAA Advanced Ground Instructor, and was on the Board of Directors of the National Space Society.

Johannes Eißing - Sr. Aeronautical Engineer

Johannes supports the AV Special Missions Team as Senior Aeronautical Engineer. In this role, he evaluates possible future projects, contributes to design and development of customized payloads, and works on the implementation of airship flight simulation models on the NASA Ames Vertical Motion Simulator.

To encourage new comers to the field of airship design, he has hosted several international Remote Control Airship Regattas. These contests put model airship designs to the test in direct competition, in a creative, low-cost and fun environment.

Johannes graduated in 2000 as Diplom Ingenieur of Aeronautical Engineering, HAW Hamburg, Germany. As a student worker with CargoLifter Development GmbH, Germany, he managed structural envelope model tests for the proposed CL160 cargo airship.

Working with CargoLifter's Flight Sciences Department as aerodynamics engineer, he was responsible for resistance and propulsion predictions. He employed tools
such as wind tunnel tests in Germany and Russia, cfd computations, analytical methods, and a worked on a 10m free flight model of the CL160.

For the planned Boeing High Altitude Airship, he did drag and performance predictions as a consultant with a+i engineering.

With Airbus Germany Flight Physics department, working on component loads and flight loads, he contributed to the development of the A380 and A400M airplanes.

At  ZLT Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH, Germany, as flight physics engineer, he was responsible for flight simulation and load assumptions.
As part of the development of a proposed, 90m Zeppelin NT airship, he planned and put in action an 8m free flight model of the Zeppelin NT07 airship.

Matthew Kilkerr - Director of Maintenance

Matthew has over twenty years experience in aircraft and airship maintenance. He has FAA Inspection Authorization, Airframe and Powerplant certification, and has previously run an authorized repair station.

A private pilot and Englishman, Matthew started his career maintaining historical aircraft for a British war museum.

Brian Metzler - Flight Operations Manager