Consulting

Training

About Us

Ferrell and Associates Consulting, Inc. also known as FAA Consulting, Inc. is a small woman-owned consultancy based in Vienna, Virginia, just outside the Washington DC Beltway.  The principals, Tom and Uma Ferrell, have over thirty years of combined experience developing and assuring safety-critical systems for NASA and the FAA.  In addition, they have conducted numerous research efforts looking at how safety-critical systems are assured in a variety of industries including aviation, nuclear power plants, and medical devices.  They have written for CRC Press, Wiley, and a host of industry conferences including the Digital Avionics Systems Conference and the System Safety Society Conference.

Uma Ferrell, formerly Uma Satyen, holds advanced degrees in Electrical Engineering and Solid State Physics.  Prior to founding FAA Consulting, she worked at MITRE, the Federally Funded Research and Development Center for the Federal Aviation Administration.  While at MITRE, she established the Center for Certification and Software Assurance and led the team that validated Change 7 of the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) now widely employed in aircraft worldwide for avoidance of mid-air collisions.  Prior to MITRE, Uma held positions with General Sciences Corporation and Computer Sciences Corporation in the areas of orbital mechanics and spacecraft systems.

Tom Ferrell holds an advanced degree in Management with an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering.  Prior to joining FAA Consulting, Tom held management positions with Iridium LLC and the Boeing Company.  At Iridium, Tom was responsible for avionics development for the Iridium system.  His positions at Boeing included time as a Software Quality Manager for Boeing Commercial Airplanes as well as a Lead Engineer in Avionics Systems.  He is a Consulting Designated Engineering Representative (DER) for the FAA and currently holds full approval authority for software (up to and including level A) for both part 23 and 25 aircraft.  He served as a Company DER for Boeing and was instrumental in their first large-scale use of COTS software in the cockpit.