The Society of
Experimental Test Pilots

The Society of Experimental Test Pilots

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Message from the President

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                                                                                                                                                                                       March 15, 2013

Fellow SETP members,

We live in interesting times.  Particularly for our US-based members, and especially for our government members, the impact of sequestration on the US federal budget has and will continue to have a very significant and growing effect on how SETP conducts its business.

Some of the impacts of sequestration include cancellation of all non-mission critical temporary duty travel, conferences and symposia; furloughs for government civilian personnel, and other cost-savings measures.  These measures are on top of already significantly more difficult paths for Department of Defense-funded conference attendance approval in the wake of 2010’s General Services Administration scandal that continued into 2012.

SETP’s symposia model has been to support and encourage regional symposia, and then to offer the best papers at the regional symposia a chance to present at the Anaheim International Symposium.  Obviously, cancellation of travel authority and restrictions to DoD attendance at conferences and symposia potentially directly impact that model, and especially for some sections, such as the Southeast and East Coast symposia.  We were fortunate in 2012 to have military leadership who went out on a limb to support attendance at Anaheim.  The last minute approval, however, seriously hurt military attendance, and had the potential to cripple the Society’s “financial engine”.  Despite these challenges, JB’s team was able to make the symposium a success.  However, the deeper cuts of sequestration have made the previous challenges seem simple.  SETP will not be able to continue in a “business as usual” mode, while depending on the previous model.

We are not throwing up our hands.  Instead, we are actively engaged in finding ways to have regional symposia at more convenient and cost-effective locations.  Most recently, the Southeast Section symposium was moved from off-base to the Eglin AFB Officer’s Club.  In addition, the symposium team aggressively sought sponsorship for the symposium.  The result of their efforts was a zero-cost symposium, with lunch the only fee.  Finally, the symposium was well-attended by active-duty, industry, government civilian and retired personnel.  The engagement of those who attended with those who presented was exactly what we hope for in our symposia:  simply exceptional!  I know the West Coast Section and the East Coast Section are each working hard to answer the same challenges and more for their symposia respectively at San Diego on March 22nd – 23rd and at Pax River on April 12th.

Sponsorship helps, but that well’s depth is finite, and many of the sponsoring contractors will themselves be affected by sequestration.  As a result, the Anaheim International Symposium and Banquet team, led by Colonel Roderick “Trash” Cregier, has been challenged to balance the desire for a quality symposium which is attractive to attendees due to the opportunity for professional learning and networking, while thoughtfully eliminating costs not adding value to our members.  Don’t worry; he’s not out looking for a monastery to host the symposium, with a convenient adjacent Motel 6.  In fact, the decision under the leadership of Doug Shane to go with a long-term contract with the Grand Californian, made in more robustly-funded times, has proven to be very cost-effective:  you can’t show up just anywhere with 600+ people and find lodging and banquet facilities.  In addition, there are significant transportation and set-up costs associated with moving the SETP office and the audio-visual setup from Southern California to the symposium location that would be far greater if they were somewhere outside of driving distance.

Trash and his team are working hard to create a symposium that people will pay their own money for, and dedicate their own time off for, whether it’s vacation, leave or permissive TDY.  He and his team are looking to show value, and I believe they’re on the right track.  Your education doesn’t stop with a formal school, or with exposure to on-the-job training in your first flight test organization - a continuing investment in yourself is needed, and our goal is to provide that to you.  This is consistent with other professions; I invite you to compare our membership and symposia costs with costs for continuing education and currency for other professions, or even within our own profession, such as FAA Designated Engineering Representative initial or recurrent training, or any of the Flight Safety Foundation symposia.

Here’s what I need you to do:  Try to fit attending one of the regional symposia or the International Symposium and Banquet into your plans.  If your organization can support you attending, great!  If not, work your budgets, leave and vacation time, and see if you can do it yourself.  Our pledge to you is to make your attendance worth your time, effort and money.

Doug Benjamin
2012-2013 President
The Society of Experimental Test Pilots

Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 March 2013 08:40
 

President's Message

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Da_Benj_T33Welcome to the SETP site.  I’m honored to serve as your President; the members of your Board of Directors and I consider it a privilege to serve the needs of our membership. During my tenure, I will do my best to get out to where the work is being done and listen to your visions for the Society.

I need to thank Steve Rainey and his Board of Directors for handing me the stick with the Society well-trimmed and humming along efficiently.  We continue at the highest numbers of members in our history, and are regularly bringing new members in through the Provisional Associate Member path for recent test pilot school graduates, as well as via the normal means of Associate Member and Member applications for test pilots actively engaged in flight test.  I get to work with many of these new members, and it’s one of the most satisfying things I’m allowed to do.

We had ten symposia this past year, and I was fortunate to attend all but two.  Overall, the overwhelming impression is of people consistently planning, performing and reporting on professional flight test, and sharing lessons learned to keep each other safe.  It was eye-opening to see just how superb the presentations were:  there’s a lot of diversity beyond the traditional test centers, and it was reassuring to see how consistently the discipline and best practices that are formally taught at the test centers are used in places far removed from the Antelope Valley or Pax River.  This was clearly shown when I attended the Japan Test Pilots Association symposium at Gifu Air Base.  Although my Japanese is almost non-existent, the papers presented there were definitely consistent with papers presented elsewhere, and I look forward to seeing some of them in Anaheim.

Hooter started several initiatives.  Here is the status of those initiatives:

  1. The first was an effort to better market test pilot value to programs and companies.  A committee was formed, chaired by this year’s Doolittle Award winner, Doug Shane, president of Scaled Composites, and a past president of SETP.  The report of the committee is expected in the last quarter of this year.
  2. A determined effort was made to improve the SETP website.  Several vendors participated in a source selection, and the IT committee made a recommendation.  However, due to the potential financial hit from the initial prohibition on US government personnel attending the Anaheim symposium, the implementation of the new website was deferred until we knew the financial results from the 56th Symposium and Banquet.  I’m pleased to announce the symposium was a financial success, and it will be possible to implement the new SETP website in the very near future.
  3. Rogers Smith, SETP past president, chaired a committee on UAV Development and Flight Test.  Once again, the membership has spoken, and it’s clear that presence aboard the vehicle under test is required for testing to count for membership.  However, we would be neglecting our profession if we ignored the rapidly growing number and types of UAV programs.  Rogers and his committee  have come up with a straw man for an official Society position on the topic, as well as recommendations on how and when to provide guidance to maximize the programs’ potential for success.
  4. John Fergione, past SETP president and SETP Foundation Director, and a committee of volunteers generated the SETP Partner’s Family Handbook (available on this site) that addressed the steps we all must take to prepare in the event of a tragedy.  The results of the committee’s work have been briefed twice at Anaheim and once at the Flight Test Safety Workshop.  To follow up on the initial notification, a permanent SETP Critical Incidence Response Committee was formed to help with notification and assist families with initial steps.  I urge all of you to look at the Partner’s Handbook and take action.  I hope it’s not needed for any of us, but our history says otherwise.

The year kicks off with our first Board meeting in Lancaster on October 25th, followed by the Southwest Section SETP Flight Test Historical symposium in Dallas-Fort Worth on October 27th.  I’ll be at both of them, and I look forward to seeing many of you there, and throughout the year.

Fair skies and following winds (unless you’re looking for limit crosswinds…)

Doug Benjamin

Last Updated on Tuesday, 09 October 2012 10:37
 

Contact Info

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The Society of Experimental Test Pilots
44814 North Elm Avenue
Lancaster, California, 93534 USA
Phone 661.942.9574
Fax 661.940.0398
Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 09:15
 

Article I General

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Section 1. Name 

The name of the organization is “The Society of Experimental Test Pilots.”  It has been incorporated as a non-profit corporation under the provision of Part One of Division Two of Title One of the Corporation Code of the State of California.  The Society of Experimental Test Pilots hereinafter will be referred to as the “Society.” 

Section 2. Definition of Name 

Experimental test pilots shall include those pilots engaged in the developmental flight testing of aerospace vehicles, their engines, or associated components. 

Section 3. Independence 

The Society shall maintain independence and shall in no way become bound by any other organization except by amendment of this Constitution.  The Society will recognize only legal or moral obligations to any person, group of persons or organizations, or government with which the Society routinely conducts business. 

 

 

 

Article II Aims And Objectives

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Section 1.  Primary Purposes 

To promote that part of the aeronautical endeavor wherein there lies the moral obligation of the test pilot to the airplane passenger, the commercial, private and service pilot, without affecting the competitive structure of industry. 

To promote education of members, of those directly associated with aeronautical activities, and of the general public concerning those endeavors peculiar to the profession of the experimental test pilot. 

Section 2. General Purposes 

To promote air safety by presenting pilot opinion; to maintain cognizance of new flight equipment already adopted or in development; to exchange ideas, experiences and information regarding airplane escape systems and techniques; and to otherwise aid in the advancement of flight safety. 

To promote technical advancement by providing for professional education through lectures, displays and presentations and by the exchange of information for mutual development of improved test techniques. 

To promote sound aeronautical design and development; to describe and discuss newly encountered phenomena in the realm of flight for the mutual benefit of all, within the bounds of the primary purpose of this corporation and governmental security regulations;  and to provide a society where the interchange of ideas, thoughts and suggestions concerning the aircraft as it affects the pilot will ultimately result in aid to the designer. 

To broaden professional relationships among members; to maintain and increase the prestige, standing and influence of the test pilot in aeronautical progress; to assist in the professional development of experimental pilots; to provide scholarships and otherwise aid the families of deceased members; to provide scholarships and otherwise aid members in receiving education and graduate work in flight technique and safety; and to otherwise contribute to aeronautical advancement. 

To perform any other acts lawfully permitted of a non-profit corporation. 

 
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