Christopher R. Beskar
Founder and CEO of Stavatti Aerospace, Ltd., Chris Beskar is an Advisor and Chair of Taksha’s Center for Aerospace Engineering Design (CAED).
As the creative force driving Team Stavatti, Chris is responsible for the design of its aircraft, as well as the company’s strategic direction. A father, a thinker, an artist, an aviator, an entrepreneur, an industrialist, a physicist, a futurist and an engineer, Chris’s workday focuses on the advancement of aerospace, transportation, defense, powerplants and propulsion systems, materials and energy technologies. A vocal advocate for Close Air Support (CAS), Chris is responsible for the SM-27 Machete and SM-28 Jet Machete all-weather attack aircraft.
Revolutionizing aerospace, in concert with the Machete family, Chris is spear-heading next generation projects including the SM-150 Sport Aircraft, the SM-26 Sleek Sportplane, the SM-36 Stalma Multi-role fighter, SM-39 Razor Air Dominance Fighter and others. Committed to dramatically reducing the cost of general aviation while increasing aircraft utility and cabin comfort, Chris is also concentrating on new sport aircraft that are affordable to own and operate.
Flying airplanes since the age of nine, Chris was introduced to aviation by his father, a commercially rated flight instructor and Alaskan Bush Pilot. Designing his first airplane while in the eighth grade, by the tenth grade, Chris had submitted an unsolicited proposal for an advanced fifth generation fighter aircraft to a DoD user agency. The positive reception and subsequent project development funding resulting from that proposal launched his career in the field of military aircraft design before he graduated high school. Culminating in a classified demonstrator project, this effort formed the foundation for future Stavatti combat aircraft designs.
Chris attended the University of Wisconsin-River Falls where he earned a BS in Physics and a Minor in History. While a sophomore he founded Stavatti Corporation to design and produce tomorrow’s military, commercial, and general aviation aircraft as well as manned space vehicles. In 1996, while a senior, Chris was the Grand Prize Winner for the NASA TechBriefs Technology Transfer-Letter Writing Contest, which focused upon the transfer of NASA spin-off technology to private industry.
Upon graduation, Chris joined Stavatti full-time. Initially concentrating upon air defense fighters, Stavatti’s focus has broadened to include the diverse array of new designs now under development today forming the basis of an enterprise that will last generations to come.
Chris also serves on the Boards of a variety of other companies, including Hybrid Technology (a manufacturer of Oil Industry equipment), the Yakataga Mining Company and from 2008 until 2014, Skytruck, Inc, a new aircraft company based in New Orleans, LA. Actively pursuing a variety of new technology and business endeavors, Chris is also pioneering innovative approaches to controlled high temperature fusion and is laying the foundation to establish enterprises to produce manned interplanetary and interstellar spacecraft.
With respect to professional associations, Chris has been a member of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) where he served on the Technical Management Committee where he served as the Chairman of the Awards Subcommittee for the Hap Arnold and Von Braun Awards for Excellence in Aerospace Program Management from 2003 through 2013. Chris has also been a member of the AFA, EAA, AOPA, and other associations.
As a private pilot, Chris has over 2,000 hours in various aircraft. In addition to flying, Chris restores classic cars and trucks and has played the bagpipes with a variety of bagpipe bands.
