Robert Patlovany earned his 1977 private pilot certificate as a college senior studying nuclear and mechanical engineering. After college, he built and flight tested his KR-2 aircraft. Computer modeling neutron-nuclei collisions inspired airplane collision modeling for his 1997 Risk Analysis paper, “U.S. Aviation Regulations Increase Probability of Midair Collisions.” Corroboration by NASA Ames in 2000 partly inspired funding of a 2008 computer generated video presented at an FAA Headquarters safety forum. Patlovany’s discovery of an Artemis mass model problem earned his 2017 NASA Silver Snoopy. A 2018 Experimental Aircraft Association webinar, “Midair Collision Physics: Gambles and Myths,” had 89 percent of over 600 pilots voting against the unsafe regulations.
