Chad Kirk Senior Director, Civil Aviation Safety & Regulatory Affairs

Chad Kirk is the Senior Director of Safety and Regulatory Affairs at the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). He focuses on various areas related to civil aircraft certification, including activities associated with Part 25 Transport Category Airplanes and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). Additionally, he represents AIA on Aviation Rulemaking Committees (ARCs), the United States Aviation Safety Team (USAST), the Safety Management Systems (SMS) Design and Manufacturer’s Focus Group, the Organization Designation Authorization Continuous Improvement Team (ODA-CIT), and serves as AIA’s liaison to the Certification Management Team (CMT) and Certification Authorities for Transport Airplanes (CATA). He works collaboratively with regulators and industry associations in the United States and abroad.

Previously, Kirk served as Head of Policy at Reliable Robotics, where he developed a comprehensive policy and engagement strategy with the Executive and Legislative branches and collaborated with various industry stakeholders to promote Regional Air Mobility (RAM). He also served as Head of Government and Policy Affairs at Airspace Link, a Detroit-based startup focused on building uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) traffic management (UTM) technologies.

Kirk gained substantial knowledge while serving at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He held various positions, notably as a Program Manager for Partnership for Safety (PSP) projects in the UAS Integration Office, where he led teams of subject matter experts, aviation safety analysts, and industry partners to integrate novel UAS operations into the National Airspace System. He also served as a policy analyst, foreign affairs specialist for North Asia, counter-UAS security analyst, and a member of the Executive Secretariat for the Administrator’s Management Advisory Council (MAC) and the UAS Safety Team (UAST). Kirk received multiple awards, including the FAA Administrator’s Award for Strategic Achievement and the Special Service Award.

He earned a Master of Arts in Defense and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College and a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs with a concentration in Security Policy from The George Washington University. Kirk is a United States Marine Corps veteran and is active in the community.