Ir. F.J. Abbink

Ir. Fred Abbink graduated in 1968 as Electrical Engineer at the chair of Control Theory, at the TU Delft. After his military service in the Royal Netherlands Navy, he started working for the ‘Nederlands Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium’(NLR) in 1969. At the NLR he worked as project engineer / project manager at the Electrical Department from 1969 – 1982. From 1982 till 1988 he was manager of the Flight Test and Helicopter Department. After being Technical Director, he became General Director in 2005. He worked at this position untill 2009. From 1996-1998 he was stationed at the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfart as Programmdirektor Luftfahrt. From 1980 untill 1997 he was a parttime professor flight test instrumentation and avionics at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the TU Delft. Next to his work at the NLR, he fulfilled various positions at the Advisory Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Deveopment (AGARD), the Group for Aeronautical Research and Technology Europe (Garteur), the Association of European Research Establishment in Aeronautics (EREA), the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS), the Duits-Nederlandse Windtunnels (DNW) and the European Transonic Windtunnel (ETW), the EU Transport Advisory Group (TAG) and the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE). After his retirement at the end of 2009, he remained very active in the field of Aerospace including a position as President Commissioner at the firm NEDAERO and chairman of the ‘Nederlandse Vereniging voor Luchtvaarttechniek (NVvL)‘. He is also member of various advisory boards for: the EU CleanSky Scientific and Technology Advisory Group (STAB), the Von Karman Institute (VKI) , TNO Integrale Veiligheid, the Netherlands Space Office (NSO), the Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging voor de Luchtvaart (KNVvL), the International Activities Committee of the AIAA, the Programme Committee van ICAS, Board of the Council of European Aerospace Societies (CEAS) and the EU Transport Advisory Group (EU TAG). Furthermore he is a member of the Netherlands Academy of Technology and Innovation (AcTI). Fred Abbink is next to that an honourary member of the VSV ‘Leonardo da Vinci’, Officer in de Orde van Oranje Nassau, Fellow of the AIAA, Honorary Fellow of ICAS and Fellow of the French Académie Nationale de l’Air et de l’Espace.