Stanley N. Roscoe Award

May 25, 2017  – Contributing to the general aviation industry’s safety culture with a doctoral dissertation on factors influencing pilot error, Jet Advisors Founder Kevin O’Leary, has earned a Ph.D. in Aviation degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU).

O’Leary is a business aviation industry veteran with more than 20 years’ experience in aircraft acquisition, brokerage, and consulting. His dissertation research involved a structural equation model (SEM) of the safety culture of a group of U.S. pilots. The purpose of the SEM was to determine causal factors that influence pilot error. This research, believed to be the first of its kind in the general aviation industry, lays the groundwork for future research. New studies picking up on O’Leary’s work may enhance aviation safety based on the identification of and reversal of negative trends in safety culture.

ERAU, founded in 1925 and based in Daytona Beach, Fla., created the first Ph.D. in Aviation program in 2010. Since that time, 16 students have earned a Ph.D. in Aviation degree. The research topics have ranged from human factors to runway incursions.