XCOR Aerospace Announces Brian Binnie As Newest Test Pilot | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-06.16.25

Airborne-NextGen-06.17.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.18.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-06.19.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.20.25

Sat, Apr 05, 2014

XCOR Aerospace Announces Brian Binnie As Newest Test Pilot

Company Says Celebrated Aviator, Commercial Astronaut And Engineer Adds To Its Depth And Experience Base

There's a new Senior Test Pilot at XCOR Aerospace. Aviator, test pilot, engineer and commercial astronaut Brian Binnie has joined the company in that role.

As Senior Test Pilot, Binnie (pictured) will be working with another celebrated pilot and astronaut, XCOR Chief Test Pilot and former Space Shuttle Pilot and Commander, US Air Force Colonel (Ret.) Richard (Rick) Searfoss. 

"Brian and I have been friends and colleagues for many years and I have always wanted to work together in a flying environment," noted Searfoss. "Combining our backgrounds as government and commercial astronauts and our broad experience across a number of rocket powered craft, I feel this builds on XCOR's strong culture that emphasizes safety and professionalism."

"Brian, Dan DeLong and I worked together at Rotary Rocket," said XCOR Founder and CEO Jeff Greason. "He was a consummate professional and leader there, and we've stayed in close contact over the years, so I know he will make a great contribution to our efforts at XCOR and getting the Lynx flying soon."

"I'm very pleased to be part of the XCOR Team and look forward to working with friends and colleagues on many of the exciting development efforts at XCOR including the family of Lynx vehicles," noted Binnie, "I look forward to seeing the Lynx flying soon and making a contribution to the program."

Brian Binnie is a decorated aviator having piloted the Ansari X-Prize award winning flight that broke the winged aircraft altitude record previously held by the X-15. He also was the pilot of a unique prototype of a single stage to orbit system, the Roton Rocket Atmospheric Test Vehicle, from Rotary Rocket. Binnie has over 5300 hours of flight time in 85 different aircraft types and 29 years of experience as a test pilot. A former Naval Aviator, he is a retired Commander having flown the A-7 Corsair, the A-6 Intruder, the F/A-18 Hornet and the AV-8B Harrier. He is a 1988 Graduate of the United States Naval Test Pilot School, received his Bachelors in Aerospace Engineering and Masters in Thermodynamics from Brown University and received a second Masters Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Princeton University.

(Image provided by XCOR)

FMI: www.xcor.com

Advertisement

More News

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (06.20.25)

“On Wednesday, June 18 at approximately 11 p.m. CT, the Starship preparing for the tenth flight test experienced an anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase. After completin>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (06.20.25)

Aero Linx: The Mooney Mite Site Dedicated to the Mooney M-18 Mite, "The Most Personal Airplane," and to supporting Mite owners everywhere. The Mooney M-18 Mite is a single-place, l>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Piper PA22

Conduct(ed) A Low Altitude Pass Over An Off-Airport Site With A 5 To 7 Mph Tailwind In His Tailwheel-Equipped Airplane Analysis: According to the pilot, while conducting a low alti>[...]

Airborne 06.18.25: DeltaHawk RV14 Flies!, Paris No-Shows, Fed Fibbing

Also: Ukrainian A-22 UAV Shootdown, Axiom 4 Launch, G7 TFR Intercept, Sao Paulo Hot Air Balloon Fatality DeltaHawk published a short video of a recent test flight using a Van&rsquo>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (06.21.25)

“For example, a fuel would have to be authorized for all aircraft and no fuel has been authorized for the rotorcraft fleet. The FAA will provide additional information when t>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC