Major Roy de Ruiter, RMWO (born Arnhem, 12 August 1981), is a reservist pilot, active in civil aviation since 2013.

De Ruiter is one of the only three living knights 4th class of the Military Order of William, the oldest and highest honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

[1] De Ruiter applied to study flight in the Royal Netherlands Air Force at the age of 16 years in 1997.

De Ruiter received the highest military award for his service as an Apache pilot in Afghanistan.

The service involved several heroic acts in the period from 2007 to 2009 when the Dutch army was deployed in the province of Uruzgan.