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

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

For added convenience and security, you can download the newsletter here.

New Podcast Episode - Do You Know About The No Vote?

Flight Test Safety Committee Podcast Channel – New Episode - Do You Know About The No Vote?

It’s a small word, it's a simple word but it can be a big and impactful word when used.  This month’s focus is on the No-Vote.  We start with Space Shuttle astronauts talking about the Challenger and Columbia accidents and then I will share my experience with the No Vote as a pilot and as a leader.

BTW Did you know you can find our organizations on social media?  Here are a few links you can use to get connected:

FTSC LinkedIn

SFTE LinkedIn
SFTE Facebook
SFTE Instagram: @Societyofflighttestengineers & @sftevp

SETP LinkedIn
SETP Facebook


Listen Now! http://flighttestsafety.org/ftsc-news/flight-test-safety-podcast-channel
Available on iTunes, Spotify, Podbean, and Google Play: FTSCChannel

Flight Test Safety Fact 21-01

Happy New Year.  A new page on the calendar gives us a great opportunity to talk about the newest topics in flight test and add to the discussion introduced by Turbo's panel of guests in the last podcast: AI and Autonomy.

How do we conduct a "literature review" for a system with no predecessor? And how do we ensure the lessons we learn in this cutting edge technology get shared in a timely manner? These are the kinds of questions we cover.

But this issue also includes a new look at an old topic: the Build up Approach.  Both articles have already generated a lot of discussion, and we hope they do the same for you.

As always, send us your feedback and ideas.

Sincerely,
Mark Jones Jr.
Editor

For added convenience and security, you can download the newsletter here.