Professional Background

Dr. McNerney is currently an airport consultant specializing in Airport Pavements, Airside Planning and GIS for airports and aeronautical data. He is an adjunct professor teaching Airport Engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington.

In October 2010, Dr. McNerney accepted the position as the assistant manager of the Airport Engineering Division, of the FAA Office of Airport Safety and Standards and retired from FAA in October 2015.  He was responsible for directing and managing the FAA Airports GIS achieving the capability to collect data and print 6 standard sheets of the Airport Layout Plan.  He managed the update of over 50 advisory circulars in the Airport Series.  He approved many modifications to standards and help automated the process in Airports GIS. He worked with FAA enterprise data and help establish the authoritative source of Airport data as part of the NAVLean program.

Dr. McNerney was an airport consultant with AECOM for 9 years until October 2010.  As an engineer and manager he has 38 years of aviation experience including both the operations and engineering side of aviation.

Dr. McNerney was the Director of the Aviation Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin where he a Research Engineer and Adjunct Facility for 10 years. He organized the successful series of six airport short courses at The University of Texas at Austin.  As adjunct faculty, he taught courses in Airport Design and Pavement Design at The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas at Arlington.

He comes from a strong military background where he served 17 years in the US Air Force as pilot, instructor, commander, and civil engineer where he lead the pavement portion of the US Air Force rapid runway repair research effort for 3 years. His unique experience as both an airline transport rated pilot with over 2600 hours of jet time and a Ph.D. in Air Transportation Engineering have given him practical insight to the planning, design and operation of large airports and military bases. 

He is experienced in the areas of Airport Planning, Airport Noise, Airport Geographical Information Systems (GIS), D-GPS Satellite Navigation Systems, Aerial Photography, and Environmental Planning and is an industry leader in Geospatial Airport Pavement Management Systems and Airport Aircraft Compatibility.  He has authored over 60 publications related to air and ground transportation research and pavement evaluation.  He has served as supervisor of flight operations at three Air Force Bases.  

 Airport Pavements

As a research engineer he has 20 years of experience in the area of pavement loading, pavement field-testing, and pavement life predictions. He has developed a field GPS pavement inspection system using GIS for evaluating airfield pavements and conducting PCI analyses. He completed a new, innovative approach to pavement evaluation and pavement life prediction for DFW Airport.  He also is a leader in airport pavement management technology and aircraft response to airport pavement roughness.  He has conducted full-scale accelerated pavement testing for the Air Force and Texas Department of Transportation.  He built the Tyndall AFB indoor pavement test facility and conducted over 30 accelerated loading field tests with F-4 and C-141 load carts simulating full-scale aircraft loading. He led the North Field Test where a Red Horse squadron repaired two exploded craters and an instrumented F-4 was flown over the repaired craters. From field tests, he developed interim Rapid Runway Repair field guidance for the US Air Force using crushed limestone and rapid setting polymer-concrete.  He has advised the FAA on accelerated pavement test devices and was a member of the FAA Airport Pavement Working Group. He has conducted pavement evaluations or forensic investigations at several airports.  He has developed alternative specifications for construction of airfield pavements in Texas.   He developed and for the last 10 years has taught the only Airport Pavement Short Course offered by a university in the U.S.

 Dr. McNerney has conducted pavement evaluation or pavement design at the following airports:

• Albuquerque International Sunport, New Mexico ABQ
• Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Austin, Texas BSM, AUS
• Bradley International Airport, Windsor Locks, Connecticut BDL
• Chicago Midway Airport MDW
• Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport, Liberia, Costa Rica LIR
• Dallas Love Field, Texas DAL
• Dallas Executive Airport, Dallas, Texas RBD
• Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Texas DFW
• Del Rio International Airport, Del Rio, Texas DRT
• Denver International Airport, Denver, Colorado DEN
• Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport FLL
• Fort Worth Alliance Airport, Fort Worth, Texas AFW
• Fort Worth Meacham International Airport, Fort Worth, Texas FTW
• George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, Texas IAH
• John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York JFK
• March Air Reserve Base, Riverside, California RIV
• Ontario International Airport, Ontario, California ONT
• Orlando International Airport, Orlando, Florida MCO
• Portland International Airport, Portland, Oregon PDX
• Rafael Hernandez International Airport, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico BQN
• Robert Mueller International Airport, Austin, Texas AUS
• San Angelo Regional Airport, San Angelo, Texas SJT
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Washington SEA
• Southwest Florida International Airport, Fort Myer's, Florida RSW
• Tampa International Airport, Tampa, Florida TPA

 Airport Master Planning and Development

• Airside Project Manager for Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport Master Plan. One of three overall technical managers, he lead the airfield simulation effort to justify the need and location for two new runways.
• Project Manager for Master Plan for Fort Worth Meacham International Airport. Provided a 20-year development plan that doubles the number of hangars and support facilities.
• Project Manager for the Airfield Layout and Design of St. Charles International Airport, Louisiana. Provided a 40-year plan for a new cargo airport including 4 runways designed to FAA Aircraft Design Group VI standards.
• Team Leader for the fast-paced TSA project to add Explosive Detection Systems at several airports from Cat X to Cat III including Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His responsibilities included assessment, analysis, planning, modeling, engineering and coordination of implementation.
• Project Manager, Airport Development Plan, McKinney, TX.   Provided a development plan for new runway and guidelines for hangar development.
• Performed analysis of runway crossings data at DFW airport for verification of SIMMOD modeling of the aircraft runway-crossing problem.
• Highly knowledgeable in obstruction analysis and pilot operations.  Working as part of AAAE Airport GIS committee to develop a standard specification for LIDAR obstruction surveys to be used for input to obstruction analyses programs such as 3DAAP.
• Land Use Planning Consultant to City of Biloxi for Noise and Obstruction Zoning Ordinance.
• Chair of ASCE Task Committee on Airport Roughness which developed a draft advisory circular on specifications for runway roughness based upon aircraft response to long wave runway profiles.
• Served six years as Chairman of TRB Committee on Aircraft/Airport Compatibility and has helped organize TRB sessions on new large aircraft, perimeter taxiways, and Obstruction Clearance Aerial Surveying
• Developed and wrote research report on the concept of using Reliever Hubs for reducing costs when primary hub operations are disrupted.
• Conducted research into the probabilities of aircraft crash potential near military and civilian airfield.   Familiar with ACUZ and land use planning for military facilities.

Airport Geographical Information System (GIS)

• Ph.D. Dissertation was "The Use of GIS for Airport Engineering and Management".
• Managed and Directed the FAA Airports GIS program in Washington DC for 5 years
• Used GIS for the design and layout of 4 new runways for St. Charles International Airport.
• Extensively used GIS for the analysis of alternatives for the Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport Master Plan
• Chairman Emeritus and founder of the AAAE Airport GIS Committee, organized the first 4 annual Airport GIS Conference and Exhibitions.
• Participated in Airport GIS projects at the following airports:

o        Dallas Fort Worth International                   Atlanta Hartsfield International

o        Detroit Wayne County Metro                      JFK International

o        Albuquerque Sunport                                  Incheon International Airport, Korea

o        Fort Worth Meacham                                  Houston George Bush Intercontinental

o        Rafael Hernandez International                    St. Charles International

o        Fort Worth Alliance                                     Denver International

Environmental Planning

• Internationally recognized researcher in area of highway and airport noise.
• Previous member of the Transportation Research Board (Part of the National Academy of Science) Committee on Transportation-Related Noise and Vibration.
• Previous Lead Aviation Consultant for St. Charles International Airport, LA Environmental Impact Statement Study.
• Performed noise analysis review of Amarillo Airport, Amarillo, Texas
• Performed noise analysis of Orange County, Texas Airport.
• Performed noise analysis of airfield alternatives for George Bush Intercontinental Airport Master Plan
• Taught courses on Integrated Noise Model at the University of Texas at Austin.
• Developed training course for AFCEE for performing NoiseMap analyses at various Air Force Bases.
• Taught an airport noise modeling short course to the Environmental Protection Department of Hong Kong.
• Published Research on the effects of traffic and air quality in San Antonio, Texas on Loop 410.
• Performed air quality analysis for EIS of Orange County Airport, Texas using the Emissions Dispersion Modeling System (EDMS).
• Familiar with the use of GIS for noise monitoring systems at airports and integrating airport traffic radar data into management analysis.

Professional Honors and Organizations

Recipient of the 2011 A.S.C.E. Robert Horonjeff Award for contributions to Air Transport Engineering

Emeritus Member and former Chairman, Transportation Research Board Committee AV070, Aircraft/Airport Compatibility

Founding Chairmen, American Association of Airport Executives Subcommittee on Airport Geographic Information Systems

Member, Transportation Research Board Subcommittee on Aviation GIS,

Former member, FAA Airport Pavement Working Group

Member, American Society of Civil Engineers, Airfield Pavements Committee, former Chairman of Task Committee on Airport Pavement Roughness

Former member, ASTM, Committee E-17, Vehicle Pavement Interaction

The 1978 Air Force Engineering Services Center, Meritorious Achievement Award

Three Air Force Meritorious Service Medals, Two Air Force Commendation Medals