I’m very excited about the upcoming year in SETP. I want you all to know that I am very humbled to serve as your President and I’ll do my best to continue with and enhance the spirit of the Society during my tenure as President.I’d like to thank Billie Flynn and his Board of Directors for handing me a Society in excellent condition. We are 2400 members strong and had eleven symposia this past year. I was fortunate enough to attend most of these and I can assure you that the quality and quantity of technical papers is at an all time high. I hope to continue this trend.
We are well on the way to a great year of symposia. I recently attended the SW Section Symposium and the historical theme was superior. I have always believed that a good look backwards helps you take the correct step forward. The presentations helped to focus lessons learned from history and how they apply today.
I then attended the European Flight Test Safety Workshop in Salzburg. The focus was on airshow demonstrations and preventing accidents. The product of this workshop will be a guide and checklist for airshow demonstrations - this directly supports our primary goal to increase flight test safety.
I have several initiatives that I’d like to announce.
1) In the Golden Era of test pilots it was a normal occurrence for Jack Northrop to drive to Edwards AFB to talk directly to the test pilots who had flown his product. Kelly Johnson’s interactions with test pilots are well documented. In many cases today’s program managers and CEOs are less likely to have had a background in engineering or flight test. As a result, the recognition of the value that test pilots bring to programs may have perhaps dwindled somewhat in recent years. We have established a “Marketing Test Pilot Value Committee” to address this issue. Past SETP President Doug Shane has agreed to Chair this committee. We will no doubt hear great things from this committee over the coming year.
2) While our website is much better than it ever has been, I’d like to make some changes that will make it a significantly more useful tool for test pilots. As an example, the ability to search based on the type of project that you are currently working. The search would not only generate papers found on the topic but the names of test pilots with test experience in the area of interest. Currently a search is very limited. The new search would in fact search entire documents as well as the member database. In addition, SETPedia will finally get off the ground floor. It will start with the SETP Handbook and allow for an ever evolving Handbook with the ability for members to add new information. Processes, standard operating procedures, and office tasks could be automated to be more efficient. Mark Dickerson has agreed to Chair the new “IT Committee.” We expect great things and I’m quite sure all of you will eventually reap the benefits of this investment.
3) This year the membership voted and the question about UAV operators becoming SETP members was put to rest. However, I believe that it is our responsibility as a professional group of test pilots to ensure that the same rigor that we bring to flight test of manned aircraft be applied to any aircraft being flown in national airspace. Rogers Smith has agreed to chair our new “UAV Development and Flight Test Committee.” We’ll develop an official Society position on the topic and prepare appropriate presentations for anyone seeking the opinion of professional test pilots.
4) John Fergione, SETP Foundation Chairman and several SETP wives generated the SETP Partner’s Family Handbook that is simply a superior product. A heartfelt thanks to Ferg for his leadership on this. In the coming year we want to expand this effort to include taking care of the family in the event of a tragedy. In Europe the Mayday Foundation fulfills this function. Lisa Brown has volunteered to be our point of contact with the Mayday Foundation and help the Board of Directors determine the direction the Society should take to ensure our families are taken care of if tragedy strikes. More to follow on this topic as the year progresses.
So as we proceed into the next year I intend to ensure that we continue to do what we do best - provide superior papers, Symposia, and fellowship to increase flight test safety. I am certain that our new initiatives and committees will ultimately have the effect of increasing efficiency for all test pilots and ultimately improving flight test safety.
I wish you all fair skies for the coming year.
Sincerely,
Steve Rainey
