Click the Image Below to Download the FTSC Brief - A Call for Greater Focus on Flight Test Safety
11/27/2018
Flight Test Safety Committee
The Flight Test Safety Committee (FTSC) was formed jointly in November 1994 by members of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP), the Society of Flight Test Engineers (SFTE) and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). These and numerous additional organizations presently comprise the FTSC. The purpose of the FTSC is to initiate and sustain a flight test related safety organization intended to promote flight safety, reduce the risk of mishap, promote risk reduction management and continually improve the profession's communication and coordination.
Flight Test Safety Fact 19-07
It has been almost two months since the Flight Test Safety Workshop, and you can now find video presentations from the workshop posted on the website: http://www.flighttestsafety.org/2019-charleston-sc. As you may recall, the Workshop provided our community with a chance to discuss "Data to Assure Success." As I began to watch the videos, I encountered an amusing interchange:
Person A: "Your slide said SMS requires no oversight..."
You could almost hear the confusion in his voice.
Person B: "Excuse me...my apologies. I speak Australian. What I meant was when you skip a step, you say it must have been an oversight, and we don't want any oversights. With SMS, because we use methodical procedures, we won't overlook specific things."
As we can see, miscommunication happens even in the most mundane settings. When we begin to discuss complexity and uncertainty, the risk of miscommunication increases.
To address this challenge, we reach back into the archive to revisit an old idea that we can apply to new problems. The story contained herein illustrates a scenario where traditional statistical methods failed, and it lays the foundation for a future, more in-depth, discussion on "communicating uncertainty in flight test," an attempt to define heuristics for our community, to discuss both uncertainty and complexity in the days and years ahead.
Sincerely,
Mark Jones Jr.
Editor
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2019 Flight Test Safety Workshop - Podcasts
Click the link below to view the Podcasts from the 2019 Workshop!
http://flighttestsafety.org/2019-charleston-sc
Review the STPA Resources and Reference Guides from the Workshop HERE
Flight Test Safety Fact 19-06
In just a few short weeks the videos from the Flight Test Safety Workshop will be posted on the website. Until that time you can read a message from the Chairman about the Workshop, give feedback, or find out who won the best paper.
You can also find some thoughtful analysis on our use of the 2D Risk Matrix in this month's edition of the Flight Test Safety Fact.
As always, please share it with others as we attempt to Reach Everyone, and send questions or feedback to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Sincerely,
Mark Jones Jr.
Editor
For your convenience, you can download the newsletter here.