COL Rich Melnyk

COL Richard Melnyk

Director, Academic Flight Program

Academy Professor / Associate Professor

richard.melnyk@westpoint.edu

Biography

Colonel Rich Melnyk was commissioned as an Aviation Officer from the U.S. Military Academy in 1995.  He has served in a variety of Aviation and Military Intelligence units with leadership responsibilities up to the Battalion Command level.  Colonel Melnyk has served in the department from 2004-2007 and again from 2015 to the present and has taught and directed courses in the Aeronautics, Design, Thermal-Fluids, and Materials and Manufacturing threads.  He currently leads the Aeronautical Thread.  Colonel Melnyk is the senior Aviator in the department and leads the Academy’s Academic Flight program responsible for the safe and effective use of all manned and unmanned aircraft at the Academy for academic and research purposes.  He is a Master Army Aviator with over 2,900 flight hours in ten different Army aircraft.   

 

 

Ongoing Research Projects

Quadcopter Rotor Interference

Publications & Presentations

Selected Peer-reviewed technical publications:

Melnyk, R.V.; Beattie, O; and Waller, B, “Scaled Crash Testing Using Modeling, Similitude, and Experimentation”, presented at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE) 2021, November 1-5, 2021, Virtual.

 

San Martin, E., Paquin, J., Harris, E., Kirby, D., Melnyk, R., “Incorporation of Blade Twist and Non-Uniform Inflow Effects in Undergraduate Helicopter Aeronautics Whirl Stand Laboratory”, presented at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE) 2021, November 1-5, 2021, Virtual.

 

Melnyk, R.V. “A Program for Managing Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Engineering Education”, presented at the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference July 26-29, 2021.  Virtual.

 

Melnyk, R.V.  “Setting Certification Standards for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Control Links”  presented at AIAA Scitech Conference, San Diego, CA January 7-11, 2019.  

 

Melnyk, R.V., Schrage, D., Volovoi, V., Jimenez, H. “A Third-Party Casualty Risk Model for Unmanned Aircraft System Operations” Reliability Engineering and System Safety Journal, 124(2014) 105-116.

 

Melnyk, R.V., Schrage, D., Volovoi, V., Jimenez, H. Sense and Avoid Requirements for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Using a Target Level of Safety Approach” Risk Analysis Journal, DOI 10.1111 (2014).

Selected Engineering Education Publications :

 

Melnyk, R.V. “A Program for Managing Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Engineering Education”, presented at the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference July 26-29, 2021.  Virtual.

 

Melnyk, R.V., and Novoselich, B.J.  “The Role of Andragogy in Mechanical Engineering Education”, presented at the 2017 American Society for Engineering Education Conference, Columbus, OH June 25-28, 2017.

 

Melnyk, R.V. “A Helicopter Flight Laboratory Experience in an Undergraduate Helicopter Aeronautics Course” presented at the 2017 American Society for Engineering Education Conference, Columbus, OH June 25-28, 2017.

 

Melnyk, R.V., Pyant. W.C., Boettner, D.D., and Brown, D.R. “Assessment of Implementing an Undergraduate Integrated Thermal-Fluids Course Sequence on the Results of the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam” presented at the 2016 American Society for Engineering Education Conference, New Orleans, LA June 25-30, 2016.

 

Melnyk, R.V. and Boettner D.D., “An Integrated Approach to Grading A Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Course at the United States Military Academy” presented at the 2008 American Society of Engineering Education Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, June 22-25.

 

Melnyk, R., Norberg, S., Root, P., Rounds, M., Boettner, D., Arnas, O., “Lessons Learned from Developing and Teaching an Integrated Thermal-Fluids Course”, presented at the 2006 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Convention.  Chicago, Illinois. 18-21 June 2006.