Leah Rust

Deputy Director of Industry Affairs

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Master of Science, Aeronautics; Aviation Safety Management Systems, 
Aviation Meteorology, 2013

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Bachelor of Science, Applied Meteorology; Research, 2011

Ms. Rust has over 10 years of aviation operations and safety experience.  At PAI Consulting, she uses her aviation expertise and analytical and statistical skills to support PAI’s Government and industry clients.  Ms. Rust’s duties include supporting aviation-directed studies by analyzing data, organizing her findings, and drafting technical studies and other reports and written documents.  Additionally, she uses her organizational skills and experience to support PAI’s clients by tracking and organizing records and other supplemental information.  Ms. Rust attends meetings, takes notes, and drafts records of meeting and other committee documents as necessary.

Ms. Rust’s major projects at PAI have included supporting the Flight Safety Foundation’s Global Safety Information Project.  Traveling abroad, Ms. Rust attends workshops, prepares presentations, takes notes, and drafts records of meeting and other committee documents as necessary.  While in the States, she prepares meeting materials, records survey data from the workshops, and creates contact lists for workshop invitations.  For the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Rulemaking (ARM), Ms. Rust has provided onsite FAA exemption processing support, and digitized and processed historic FAA records.

Ms. Rust began her education in aeronautics in 2011.  While working on her graduate degree, she volunteered at the Daytona Beach Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) facility.  In addition, Ms. Rust wrote a script for a safety video requested by the National Transportation Safety Board regarding general aviation (GA) accident factors.  As part of her graduate program, Ms. Rust completed a graduate capstone project analyzing the preflight weather conditions associated with visual flight rules into instrument meteorological conditions in GA accidents.  Following this study, she developed a set of weather-related guidelines for private pilots to follow before flight.  While studying for her master’s degree, she also worked for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as a marketing assistant.  After her time at Embry‑Riddle, she worked as a promotional specialist at Premiums, Promotions, & Imports.