Representative Ed Soliday Contact information

State Representative Ed Soliday was born and raised in Valparaiso, Indiana, where he has lived for over 50 years. He attended Valparaiso High School, where he ran cross-country, played basketball and ran track and field. He is married to the former Mary Kay Wagoner of Hebron and they have two grown children. He and Mary attend Calvary Church. While living in Valparaiso, Ed has served on the Valparaiso Planning Commission and the Valparaiso Board of Parks and Recreation. He is a former member of the Valparaiso Lions Club and Valparaiso Rotary. He was appointed by the Governor to the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission and a member of the Northwest Indiana Challenger Learning Center Board.

While serving as a pilot with United Airlines, Ed was asked to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Kids Alive International, a group of international children’s homes in various locations around the world. Ed and his wife served with Kid’s Alive without remuneration for over 10 years.

Representative Soliday was employed by United Airlines for over 35 years as a pilot, Human Factors Instructor, Flight Manager, and Senior Staff Executive, serving the last eleven as Vice President of Safety, Quality Assurance and Security, responsible for Flight Safety, Aircraft Cabin Safety, Occupational Safety, Environmental Compliance, Operational Quality Assurance, Security, Computer Security and Emergency Response. Captain Soliday was responsible for crisis management during 9/11 at United. During his career Captain Soliday flew the DC-6, DC-8, Boeing 727, Boeing 737-200, -300, -500, the Boeing 767-200, BOEING 767-300 and Boeing 757-200, logging over 14,000 hours of flight time.

Representative Soliday began his aviation career as a partner in a flight school and charter operation at Gary airport flying Cessna, Piper and Beech aircraft. He joined United Airlines at age 21 as a flight engineer. Three years later he left United to fly AH-1G Cobra attack helicopters in Vietnam. In the Army he flew the UH-1H Huey, the H-13, H-23, UH-1H and the AH-1G Huey Cobra, serving as a combat pilot, maintenance officer and test pilot.

During his career at United he made significant contributions in the development of emergency response methodologies, flight crew human factors safety initiatives, Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning Device development, Flight Operations Quality Assurance programs (digital performance monitoring and analysis), joint, union/management occupational safety initiatives, code share and express carrier auditing, aviation industry security screening technology deployment and risk analysis. He was an early pioneer of Safety Management Systems.

He has served on numerous aviation safety related advisory boards and commissions including the Gore Commission’s Aviation Security Baseline Working Group and founding co-chairman of the Commercial Aviation Safety Team, chairman of the Flight Operations Quality Assurance Advisory Rulemaking Committee, past chairman of the Air Transport Association Safety Council, the International Air Transport Association Flight Safety Committee, past Chairman of the Star Alliance Safety Committee, and the Air Transport Association Environment Executive Sub-Committee, past chairman of the ATA Environmental Committee, the Executive Board of the Flight Safety Foundation, the NASA Aviation Safety Program Executive Panel, The National Academy of Sciences Sub-Committee on Transportation Security Technology, the National Academy of Sciences Decadal Survey of NASA Aeronautics Research-chairman of the Complex Integrated Systems Panel as well as several other National Academies studies and peer reviews. He served as adjunct professor of Aviation Safety and Security at George Washington University1999 thru 2007 and as a member of the Adler Planetarium Board of Trustees.

Among his awards are the Bendix Trophy for Aviation Safety, the Vanguard Trophy and the Laura Tabor Barbour International Air Safety Award, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Federal Aviation Administration Distinguished Service Awards, the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze Stars and the Purple Heart. In 2009, the Commercial Aviation Safety Team, of which Captain Soliday was the founding co-chair, received the prestigious Collier Trophy for reducing the commercial aviation fatal accident rate by 83% in ten years and producing the longest period without a commercial aviation fatality in the history of the industry.

He served on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Global Airline Industry Program Advisory Group, The National Academies of Sciences Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board.

Representative Soliday also serves on several not for profit boards including: Board of Regents of Trinity International University and Board of Emmanuel Hospital Association.

He has served as an aviation consultant to many organizations including the Rand Corporation, the Boeing Company, Greenbriar Equity, LLP, Skadden & Arp, Quirk & Bachelor, LLP and Condon & Forsyth, LLP.