Following a total five years of graduate residency, Mr. Ditchey holds two advanced degrees in aeronautical engineering, an MS in Aeronautical Engineering, awarded at the US Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, and an Aeronautical Engineer Degree ("AE"), awarded at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.  The AE Degree is an intermediate degree, between the Master's and the Doctorate.  With this academic background, Mr. Ditchey is well suited to perform as an Expert Witness involving aircraft and engine design defect issues.
Mr. Ditchey is currently engaged in two different cases of litigation involving design defect.  In addition, two other cases are of note:
One involved a patent dispute concerning the cargo roller system on board wide-body freighters.  Mr. Ditchey was an Expert Witness therein.
Mr. Ditchey was an Expert Witness in an accident litigation involving the inflight deployment of thrust reversers, and the reverser system proved to have defects in design.

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One aspect of aircraft design encompasses analysis, in which Mr. Ditchey has extensive experience.  He also has considerable experience in wind tunnel testing.

One aspect of being an executive in airline maintenance is that you get to know what things were designed poorly, leaving maintenance with continuing headaches.

Mr. Ditchey has visited the facilities of Boeing, Douglas Aircraft, Lockheed, Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, and several aircraft component manufacturers.  He is familiar with the process through which aircraft, engines, and components are designed and manufactured.