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International Flight Test News

NASA, SpaceX Launch First Flight Test Of Space System Designed For Crew – Kennedy Space Center, FL For the first time in history, a commercially-built and operated American crew spacecraft and rocket, which launched from American soil, is on its way to the International Space Station. The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off at 2:49 a.m. EST Saturday on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Known as Demo-1, SpaceX’s inaugural flight with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is an important uncrewed mission designed to test the end-to-end capabilities of the new system. It brings the nation one-step closer to the return of human launches to the space station from the United States for the first time since 2011 – the last space shuttle mission. Teams still have work to do after this flight to prepare the spacecraft to fly astronauts. The best way to advance the system design was to fly this spacecraft and uncover any other areas or integrated flight changes that might be required. NASA News Release

Sikorsky HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopters Prepare For Flight Test - West Palm Beach, FL Two fully assembled HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopters (CRH), built by Sikorsky, are preparing for their maiden flights, which will occur before mid-year at the Sikorsky West Palm Beach site in Florida. Both aircraft, which are being built for the U.S. Air Force, were transported late last year to West Palm Beach following final assembly at Sikorsky's facility in Stratford, Connecticut. The aircraft test readiness review was completed in October 2018. The CRH HH-60W flight test team is currently preparing both aircraft for flight by conducting final installation of instrumentation and ground run testing. This marks formal entry into the flight test program that culminates in Ready Assets Available (RAA), allowing the Air Force to declare Initial Operational Capability (IOC). Aero News Network

Nixus Fly-By-Wire Glider Takes Flight – Merced, CA Innovative Brazilian aeronautical engineer Paulo Iscold has for the past few years been working on Nixus, a glider that has the second highest aspect ratio of any sailplane at 53.3 to 1 (the Concordia Superseigler’s aspect ratio is 57 to 1). Paulo Iscold has accomplished another impressive feat, this time taking a revolutionary sailplane into the skies. What makes Nixus truly unique is its fly-by-wire ailerons and flaps. The rudder, elevator and airbrake on the Nixus are mechanically linked. Iscold said there are 12 flaps on the wings that act both as flaps and ailerons concurrently. One great benefit of having a fly-by-wire system, Iscold said, is the ability to change the angle of deflection of the controls very quickly in a computer program. After the successful 35-minute first flight, Iscold will use the data to continue to tweak the design and widen the flight envelope. He expects to take the Nixus to the skies again in about two weeks. The first flight was conducted by Jim Payne (AF), who is the chief pilot of the Perlan Project and has broken numerous soaring records, including the highest glider flight with the Perlan II, which has climbed beyond 76,000 feet. Payne and the Nixus were pulled off the ground at the Castle Airport in Merced, California, by a Piper Pawnee towplane. The Nixus project has been in the making for about a decade and was spurred by Iscold’s Brazilian friend Sergio Andrade. The fuselage was purchased and Iscold designed the wings and flight controls. The project suffered a major setback last summer as the 93-foot wing snapped at the junction between the outboard and inboard wing panels during structural testing. After an unnamed famous sailplane designer told Iscold he wasn’t capable of completing the project, he considered abandoning it. But several people convinced Iscold to continue. Today he sees the failure as a blessing as it allowed him to involve students from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California, where Iscold started working as a professor last year. About 25 people in total have contributed to the project, including one of Iscold’s Brazilian students who worked on flutter testing. Flying

Paulo Iscold and Jim Payne (AF) celebrate the first flight of Nixus

Chapter Events

From Rainbow to Gusto: Stealth and the Design of the Lockheed Blackbird Paul Suhler, Author

Presentation and Book Signing

When the first flights of the U-2 spyplane over the Soviet Union were tracked by air defense radars, the CIA realized that it was only a matter of time before it would be shot down, and thus began a crash program to reduce its radar cross section. This effort evolved into a competition to design a follow-on aircraft that would be invisible to radar. Over a period of two years, Lockheed and Convair explored a variety of subsonic and supersonic designs and tradeoffs among performance, payload, and RCS, resulting in selection of the Lockheed A-12 Blackbird. While the efforts were not completely successful, they laid the basis for future developments in low-observable aircraft, such as the F-117 and B-2.

University of Texas at Arlington SEIR Building Room 198 Wednesday, 13 March 7:00pm

SFTE 50th International Symposium In conjunction with the European Test & Telemetry Conference (ETTC) The SFTE International Symposium will be held at the same venue with admission allowing attendance to both events

10-14 June 2019 Toulouse, France

Aeroscopia Museum Thursday Afternoon http://www.musee-aeroscopia.fr/

Hotels 2 Nice hotels, Mercure (above) and Novotel Compans (below) very close (2 and 5 min. walk) to the meeting venue at Toulouse Congress Center. Hotel block for 30 rooms each until end of April with a rate of 132 Euros per night including breakfast. More details to follow.

Symposium Instructors Wanted One or two more instructors are needed to teach from 2-6 hours on a subject on Monday, 10 June. If interested, please contact Tech Council Chair Al Lawless: sfte@alawless.com and Yves Saint-Upery at yves.saint-upery@airbus.com Tickets for Paris Airshow Trade Days Now Available! Tickets for 17-20 June trade days are now available. https://siaepro.mybadgeonline.com/Pro-en-US https://www.siae.fr/en/general_info/prices.htm Exhibitor Space Available The SFTE symposium will be held in conjunction with the European Test and Telemetry Committee (ETTC) conference. Booths 1 thru 9 will be available for SFTE exhibitors for 3500E each. Contact Yves Saint-Upery at yves.saint-upery@airbus.com to reserve your spot!

2019 SFTE Symposium Schedule Monday 10 June – Training Classes, SFTE Annual Business Meeting, Reception Tuesday 11 June – Tech Presentations Day 1 Wednesday 12 June - Tech Presentations Day 2 Thursday 13 June – Tech Presentations Day 3, Tech Council Meeting, Aeroscopia, Symposium Awards Banquet Friday 14 June – Airbus Factory Tour

Membership

50th Anniversary Patch for Members Make sure you renew your membership this year! In celebration of SFTE’s 50th Anniversary, all members (including Lifetime and Fellows) will receive a special SFTE 50th Anniversary patch designed by the Seattle Chapter. Renew Your SFTE Membership!

SFTE Award Nominations Due 9 April

Kelly Johnson Award Individual Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Flight Test Engineering

James McDonnell Team Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Flight Test Engineering

Directors Award Recognition for significant and lasting contributions toward the welfare, stature, leadership, or membership of the Society

2019 Scholarship Nominations Due 22 April Through the generous donations of SFTE Corporate Members, Chapters, and individuals, the Society provides yearly scholarship awards to deserving students who meet the following criteria:

• Son or daughter of a Society member in good standing or a student member in good standing for at least six months (Affiliate Members or children of Affiliate Members are not eligible) • Completed college freshman year • Pursuing first undergraduate degree majoring in engineering, computer sciences, mathematics, physics or other technical disciplines • Scholastics shall be the primary consideration for the award • SFTE Board of Directors will determine recipients and award amounts • Awards are for one year • Previous winners, as well as those who applied in previous years, are eligible Apply for Scholarship

2019 Fellow Nominations Due 26 April The highest grade achievable in SFTE, a Fellow shall have been a Senior Member in good standing for at least two years and shall have attained a position of notable distinction in the field of flight testing. At the current membership level of 962 Members, up to two Fellows can be elected this year by their peers (3/4 affirmative votes from SFTE Fellows in good standing) and are awarded automatic lifetime membership in the Society along with the distinction and responsibility associated with this honor. Nomination of an eligible candidate for Fellow can be made by any member in good standing in the Society. The nomination should be accompanied by appropriate information and documentation. Simply reply to this message with your nomination and supporting documentation by 26 April 2019.

Senior Members Eligible for Nomination to Fellow*

Title First Name Last Name Chapter

Mr Gary Aldrich Antelope Valley

Mr Daumants Belte Antelope Valley

Mr Byron Billingsley Seattle

Mr Paul Bolds-Moorehead Seattle

Dr Vanessa Bond Coastal Empire

Mr Edward Breau Patuxent River

Mr Robert Burton Europe

Mr Samuel Carbaugh Wright

Mr George Clarke III Patuxent River

Mr J. Roy Combley Seattle

Mr Paul Conigliaro Patuxent River

Mr Nathan Cook Emerald Coast

Mr William Cutler At Large

Mr Floyd Dominick, Jr. Antelope Valley

Mr Kenneth Edwards Europe

Mr Russell Erb Antelope Valley

Mr Brooks Faurot North Texas

Mr George Gayes At Large

Mr Willard Gibbons Wichita

Dr Charles Hall, Jr. At Large

Mr Michael Hammer Seattle

Mr Marvin Hanks Antelope Valley

Mr Kirk Harwood Antelope Valley

Dr Troy Hoeger Wright

Mr David Hyde Antelope Valley

Dr Lester Ingham At Large

Ms Carla Jackson Patuxent River

Mr Dana Johnson North Texas

Dr George Kailiwai III At Large

Mr Kenneth Katz At Large

Mr Chris Keithley St. Louis

Mr Johnnie Ligon Antelope Valley

Mr James Martin Canadian

Mr Terence Martin North Texas

Mr Andrew McClymont Europe

Mr Darren McDonald Seattle

Mr Ronald Menello Patuxent River

Mr Ralph Mohr Seattle

Mr Mark Mondt, II Coastal Empire

Mr Clifford Moore Seattle

Mr Mathew Morgan Wichita

Mr Gene Munson North Texas

Mr Kent Nelson At Large

Mr Bengt Oredsson Europe

Mr Weneth Painter Antelope Valley

Mr Thomas Reider Patuxent River

Mr Mark Roots At Large

Mr Peter Scheidler Pax River

Mr Nick Scocos Wichita

Mr Hugh Smith At Large

Mr Jeffery Stanley Wichita

Mr Larry Stebbins Antelope Valley

Mr H. Stiles, Jr. Pax River

Ms Margaret Swassing Antelope Valley

Mr Jan Uhlin Europe

Mr John Wardlow North Texas

Mr Terry Weber St. Louis

Mr Bryan Welsh Seattle

Mr Reagan Woolf Antelope Valley

*Note: If there is an error with this list please reply to this email

Welcome New Members!

Casey EricksonM Allways Air & Space At Large

Dr. Marianne HoerbergM SAAB European Chapter Junho MaM Korea Aerospace Industries At Large

Luke StarnesM Georgia Tech Research Institute At Large Hiroyuki TanakaM Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation America Seattle Chapter

Renew SFTE SFTE Member Level denoted as Exponent (SETP in parenthesis) ST - Student Member AL – Affiliate Member AS – Associate Member M – Member SM – Senior Member F – Fellow HF – Honorary Fellow (SETP) PAM - Provisional Associate Member (SETP) For more info on SFTE member grades & to apply for upgrade: http://sfte2992.com/membership-individual/

2019 Calendar

15 March SETP Canadian Sectional Abstracts due: tammy@setp.org 20 March SFTE Wichita Chapter general meeting 26 March North Texas Chapter – Monthly Meeting at UT Dallas 28 March Wichita Chapter – Beer Call at The Hill 30 March Nominations due for the Tony LeVier Flight Test Safety Award. Download the nomination form: http://www.flighttestsafety.org/awards/35-awards/information/54-tony-levier-flight-test-safety-award 5 April Nominations due for SFTE Kelly Johnson, James McDonnell, and Director Awards SFTE/SETP North Texas Chapter – 1st Friday at the Flying Saucer, Fort Worth, TX 10 April North Texas Chapter – Monthly Meeting at UT Arlington 15 April FTWSW Hotel Registration Deadline for Marriott: http://www.setp.org/symposium/meetings/workshop/ 18-19 April SETP/SFTE Central Section Symposium SFTE featured presenter as part of the Wichita Space Initiative lecture series at Wichita State University 22 April Nominations Due for SFTE Scholarships 26 April North Texas Chapter – Monthly Meeting at UT Dallas 3 May North Texas Chapter - 1st Friday at the Flying Saucer, Fort Worth, TX 6-9 May Flight Test Safety Workshop Charleston, South Carolina 24 May SETP Canadian Chapter Sectional Canada Air and Space Museum Ottawa, ON

10-14 June SFTE 50th International Symposium Toulouse, France

17-23 June Paris Airshow 6-7 September SFTE/SETP/AIAA Southwest Aerospace Symposium, Keynote Charlie Bolden, UT Arlington, TX

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