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.
About FTSC

Tony LeVier Flight Test Safety Award - Nominations Due 30 March

 

The Flight Test Safety Committee is soliciting nominations for the Tony LeVier Flight Test Safety Award. 

Criteria and nomination information can be found HERE. 

The deadline to submit a nomination is 30 March 2021.

2021 Flight Test Safety Workshop: In-Person Event Canceled

Dear Flight Test Safety Workshop Supporters,

The FTSW Planning Committee has canceled the in-person Flight Test Safety Workshop in Denver (4-6 May 2021) due to the ongoing issues related to COVID-19.  We appreciate your understanding as we take prudent action in terms of the health risk, as well as the ability to cancel the venue with no fees.

The Flight Test Safety Committee (FTSC) is disappointed that we cannot interact with the test community during this important Workshop, but we are considering a condensed virtual workshop or webinar in its place. If this is arranged, we will notify you as soon as possible. 

The Flight Test Safety Committee appreciates your understanding and support during this dynamic situation. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Sincerely,

Art Tomassetti, FTSC Chairman

Save the Dates! European Flight Test Safety Workshop 12-14 October 2021

European Flight Test Safety Workshop

12-14 October 2021

The Royal Air Force Club
London

Invitation FTSWS 2021 Mk1.0 002

Flight Test Safety Fact 21-03

If you could travel back in time (something Turbo discusses inside this month’s edition) to continue your work as a flight test professional, but you can’t tell anyone that you are from the future, and further suppose that all you brought with you is your memory, what would you work on? And would it be easier or harder than you think?

I encountered this interesting thought experiment in a blog post that made several profound observations, but one really stood out:  “The idea of taking the output of a function and sticking it back in, over and over, is really simple. But nobody looked into it deeply until around 50 years ago.”

Sometimes we overlook simple ideas.

People have written whole books about why we should not overlook simple ideas.  In this month, however, you will only encounter a short op-ed introducing a simple idea that is statistically rigorous, and it applies to complex and complicated fields alike, including the intersection of artificial intelligence and flight test which continues to emerge.

This month’s editions highlights a formal accident report of an autonomous flying car crash and two more sundry observations from my ongoing survey of flight test news.  Finally, Turbo assigns homework, and the pdf includes three attachments in the paperclip menu of adobe acrobat.

So if you slow down long enough to enjoy this edition, let us know by email.

 

Sincerely,
Mark Jones Jr.
Editor

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