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Colonel
Kenneth H. Fleming
Permanent Professor 1981–1988
Vice Dean of the Faculty 1986–1988
B.S., United States Air Force Academy
M.A., University of California, Los Angeles
Ph.D., University of California, San Diego
Ken Fleming, the Academy’s 42nd Permanent Professor, was born in New York City in 1940. He graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1962 with a major in Economics. Ken earned his pilot’s wings at Craig AFB, AL, a year later and embarked on a flying career that included some 3,000 hours flying in five major Air Force commands: Strategic Air Command, Military Airlift Command, Tactical Air Command, Pacific Air Forces, and US Air Forces in Europe! From 1963 to 1966 he flew the B-47 at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, Lincoln AFB, NE, and Pease AFB, NH. In 1966 he flew the C-141 at Travis AFB, CA. From 1966 to 1968 he flew the F-100 in Vietnam (he had 200 combat missions and earned a Silver Star). Following Vietnam, he was sent to UCLA in preparation for an Academy faculty assignment. He earned his Master’s degree in Economics, with an emphasis on Price Theory and Industrial Organization, in 1969. Following UCLA, he was assigned for two years to the Academy’s Department of Economics, Geography and Management. From 1971–1974 he was a doctoral student at UC San Diego; his PhD in Economics was awarded in 1978. Ken next flew the OV-10 at Osan Air Base, Korea, 1974–1975, before returning to teach at the Academy. He specialized in advanced economics and econometrics, the application of mathematical methods to analysis of economic issues. In 1978 he was reassigned to Sembach Air Base, Germany, as Operations Officer, later Commander of an OV-10 Tactical Air Support Squadron. He was appointed Permanent Professor in December 1981 and formally took over as Head of the Department of Economics and Geography in 1982. He served as Vice Dean of the Faculty from 1986 until his retirement in 1988.
Following his active service, Ken joined the faculty of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL, where he taught and conducted economics research on many areas of the airline industry. He was Chairman of the University’s Aviation Business Administration Department, now expanded into the College of Business. Subsequently, he led an externally funded research initiative working on issues that were mainly concerned with the next-generation air traffic control procedures (which are now being implemented). During this period, he coauthored the influential textbook Introduction to Air Transport Economics: From Theory to Applications (2008), which merged the institutional and technical aspects of the aviation industry with their theoretical economic underpinnings. In 2008 he retired from Embry-Riddle to co-author a second text, Foundations of Airline Finance: Methodology and Practice (2010). In 2011 he returned to Embry-Riddle as an Adjunct Professor, teaching advanced economics courses, while completing 2nd and 3rd editions of both his textbooks.