Ms. Susan DeGuzman is the Director of the Department of the Navy’s Airworthiness & CYBERSAFE Office (ACO) located at the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD. She is the delegated airworthiness certification authority for all US Navy & Marine Corp aircraft.
Ms. DeGuzman is directly responsible for providing naval aviators and FMS customers with timely airworthiness approvals in the form of NATOPS, NATIP, and Interim Flight Clearances based on technical data, concise operating procedures, and safety-critical flight limitations, thus improving safety of operations and fleet readiness.
Ms. DeGuzman was responsible for the development of many airworthiness organizations, strategies, policies, and processes including the FAA Military Certification Office, the National Airworthiness Council, the Joint Service MoA for Mutual Airworthiness Acceptance, Mil Handbook 516, initial UAS airworthiness policies, FMS airworthiness qualification plans, and policies for DoD contracted aircraft services.
Ms. DeGuzman joined the Airworthiness Directorate as a Flight Clearance Control Officer for Naval Test Wing Atlantic and served as the Interim Flight Clearance Deputy Division Head, as well as the Chief Airworthiness Engineer for PEO(A) platforms. During this time the Airworthiness Directorate received the NAVAIR National Commanders Award twice, and she received the DoD Standardization Program Award for Excellence, and an FAA commendation for development of DoD Public Aircraft Operations policies.
Ms. DeGuzman served as the Director for NAVAIR HQ Engineering & Cyber Warfare Group for several years, and was responsible for complete engineering support from research and development to design and flight test. She worked to advance Naval aviation through Integrated Warfighter Capabilities, Open Architectures, Digital Engineering, and Technical Authority.
Ms. DeGuzman joined NAVAIR in the Engineer and Scientist Developmental Program (ESDP) with the Flight Dynamics Branch. She was a lead flight dynamics engineer and Subject Matter Expert responsible for flying qualities and stability and control technical issues for fleet and developmental aircraft including F-18, T-45, AV-8, EA-6B, and UAVs. She also worked at the Naval Safety Command as an Aircraft Mishap Investigator, conducted Engineering Investigations at Navy Depots to perform critical analysis of damaged components, and as a Flight Test Engineer during F/A-18E/F developmental testing.
Ms. DeGuzman graduated from Pope John HS in Sparta, NJ, received her BS in Aerospace Engineering from Rutgers University and her MS in Aviation Systems from the University of Tennessee. She is a graduate of the US Naval Test Pilot School and a private pilot. She grew up on a small private airport where she trained in acrobatics and helped build homebuilt aircraft. She has flight time in 30 aircraft types and enjoys skiing and boating.