PROF JOHN W BRISTOW recently retired from the post of Head of the Structures and Materials Department of the UK Civil. Aviation Authority (CAA) Safety ...
PROF JOHN W BRISTOW recently retired from the post of Head of the Structures and Materials Department of the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Safety Regulation Group. He has over 42 years of experience in the aircraft industry, 13 of which were with the manufacturing industry, the DeHavilland Division of H.S.A. For some 30 years he worked in the structural integrity area of airworthiness for the CAA with special responsibility for materials technology. He obtained his first degree in Aeronautical Engineering from London University and his doctorate on fatigue research from Cambridge University, resident at Churchill College. His technical work at CAA involved him in the structural substantiation of a wide variety of aircraft types (ranging from a supersonic transport to microlights and including helicopters). Over the years he was responsible for several developments in the regulatory framework for structural design in particular composite material structures, helicopter damage tolerance and ageing aircraft issues. On the academic side Prof Bristow has initiated a wide range of research programmes on topics such as inspection reliability, corrosion fatigue interactions, explosive hardening and cold working fatigue improvement methods. At present he is a consultant adviser on aircraft structural integrity and airworthiness matters. He is a Visiting Professor with the Damage Tolerance Group in the School of Industrial & Manufacturing Science at Cranfield University where he has established very recently a Masters degree course in Airworthiness.