Dr. Thomas Carney is Professor of Aviation Technology and former department head of the Department of Aviation Technology at Purdue University, where he has taught since 1972. Dr. Carney has more than 50 years of experience as a pilot, with more than 11,000 flight hours, and holds the Airline Transport Pilot certificate with multiengine, Mitsubishi Diamond, and Beechjet type ratings, in addition to the Certified Flight Instructor certificate with airplane single- and multiengine, and instrument airplane ratings. Dr. Carney's primary scholarly areas in aviation include advanced aviation meteorology, high performance turbine operations, high altitude flight, and corporate flight department management. Dr. Carney was the 1996 recipient of the James G. Dwyer award for outstanding undergraduate teaching in the School of Technology, and is a member of the inaugural group of 225 men and women included in the Purdue University Book of Great Teachers. In 2002, he was awarded the William A. Wheatley award by the University Aviation Association, given annually to a professional educator of more than 10 years' experience, who has made outstanding contributions to aerospace education. Dr. Carney is also the recipient of the 2003 Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department at Purdue, and in 2012 he received the Distinguished Science Alumnus award from the Purdue College of Science. In 2004, Dr. Carney was named “Member of the Year” by the Council on Aviation Accreditation, and in 2006, he received the President’s Award from the University Aviation Association, for long-term leadership and service to that organization. In 2008, he received a recognition award for “leadership and guidance…provided to future airline pilots”, from the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA). Dr. Carney received the Aviation Accreditation Board International Chairperson’s Award, in July 2017, for service to that organization. In April 2018, he was presented with the FAA Wright Brothers’ Master Pilot Award, given “to recognize individuals who have exhibited professionalism, skill, and aviation expertise for at least 50 years while piloting aircraft as "Master Pilots"”.
In addition to his flight background, Dr. Carney holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Atmospheric Science, and maintains a courtesy faculty appointment in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. His primary research areas of interest in aviation technology and atmospheric science include aviation meteorology and the impact of weather on aviation operations, synoptic-scale dynamics and energetics and the interactions between synoptic- and mesoscale motion fields, aviation leadership and management, effective methods for recruiting and preparing the next generation of aviation professionals, and the use of aircraft for airborne research applications in earth-atmosphere data sampling. He is the author, or co-author, of more than 100 publications and presentations, and is a current or former member of a number of national and international organizations and committees relating to collegiate flight education and accreditation, aviation meteorology, corporate flight operations, and the ICAO Next Generation of Aviation Professionals Task Force.
Dr. Carney served for 9 years as the senior editor of the Collegiate Aviation Review, and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education and Research. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Aviation Accreditation Board International (AABI), as chairman of the Accreditation Committee of AABI, and is a past chairman of the Certified Aviation Manager Governing Board (CAMGB) of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA). He also served as the founding chairman of the NGAP (Next Generation of Aviation Professionals) Task Force of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Dr. Carney is an active consultant in corporate flight operations and expert witness in litigation involving flight operations and aviation meteorology. In 2004, he was designated a Certified Aviation Manager by the CAMGB.
tcarney@purdue.edu