DONALD WOOD

Donald "Chip" Wood is an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner based in Plainfield, New Hampshire, who administers practical tests exclusively for rotorcraft. As a helicopter-only examiner, he does not conduct airplane checkrides. Affiliated with the Portland Flight Standards District Office, Wood is authorized to examine candidates for Private, Commercial, Instrument, and Airline Transport Pilot helicopter ratings, and he has historically traveled outside of his immediate territory to perform rotorcraft checkrides and proficiency checks. His aviation career includes serving as the Lead Pilot for the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Advanced Response Team, a critical care helicopter air ambulance program based in Lebanon, New Hampshire. In December 1999, Wood coordinated and flew the highly time-sensitive "Millennium Flight," piloting a backup Agusta A109 CMAX helicopter to transport a donor heart and a transplant surgeon to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. In addition to his air ambulance service and his subsequent career as a pilot and inspector for the FAA's Aircraft Evaluation Group, Wood studied Animal Science at the University of New Hampshire and owns Wood Hill Farms in North Walpole, New Hampshire, where he finalized a voluntary conservation easement with the Monadnock Conservancy in 2019 to protect 28 acres of historic family farmland.