Mr. Symonds joined Bristol in 1977 directly from university. Prior to that, he was a pilot in the Royal Canadian Navy. He started his career as a design engineer in the Black Brant rocket area where he participated in vehicle structural, dynamic, and performance analyses. During this period, he also supported the structural review and analysis of the CF-101 Voodoo aircraft.

In 1980, he was made the Project Engineer for the Black Brant payloads and was responsible for the overall design, project management, and field support for NRC payloads.

In 1983, Mr. Symonds was promoted to Manager, Engineering Administration where he was responsible for the generation of engineering administrative and project management procedures and processes. He was also responsible for the introduction of workplace automation systems within Engineering. During this period, he was also one of the two Company representatives who produced the CF-18 Systems Engineering Support Proposal.

In 1987, he was promoted to Director, Aircraft Engineering where he was responsible for the systems design and development for Bell helicopter and CF-5 repair, overhaul, systems update, avionics update, ground and flight test. This responsibility extended to new systems manufacturing support as well as numerous international F-5 support programs. Aslo, during this period, he was the Program Manager for Boeing / de Havilland Products.

In 1996, Mr. Symonds was given the added responsibility for Defence Missile and Propulsion Engineering. It was in these recent years that he responsible for the engineering support to the HOKUM full size helicopter target program and the design and development of the DASH-8 tail cone.

In 1998, he was made Director, Engineering Services responsible for all design, production planning, tool design, tool build, and data control activities for the Bristol Winnipeg plant.

He retired from Bristol on 11 January, 2001 after 24 years of service.

Professional Affliliations:
Treasurer, local Chapter Chair, and Manitoba Councillor Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute
Councillor, Vice-President, President, Assn. of Professional Engineers of Manitoba
Commanding Officer, 402 Air Reserve Squadron
Member, Advisory Board for the Aeronautical Engineering Technology Program at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
Member, Advisory Board for Mechanical Engineering Technology at the Red River College.

Additional Training:
Numerous management, CALS, CAD/CAM, Quality, and military courses taken between 1962 and the present.