The Society of Experimental Test Pilots
55th European SETP Symposium
26-30 July 2026
Edinburgh, Scotland
The 55th European Symposium will be held from 26-30 July 2026 in Edinburgh, Scotland. This year's Symposium Chairman is David Mackay (F).
The European Symposium, unique within the society for its breadth of countries represented, brings together the European flight test community and visitors from outside the continent to discuss new and emerging concepts and share lessons learned in the pursuit of enhanced flight test safety, effectiveness, and efficiency. The foundation for this interchange is built on technical presentations from SETP members and non-members - the flight test community at large.
Our Technical Committee welcomes presentations from all varieties of flight testing and all varieties of air vehicles (fixed wing, rotary wing, hybrid air vehicles), but in an effort to make our less 'wing-fixed' cousins feel more welcome, we are actively encouraging and soliciting presentations from rotary-wing and other potentially non-wing borne flight. A second area of focus that we would like to specifically encourage is presentations in the area of Ethics. While it can be challenging to get corporate approval to discuss ethical lessons learned, without active discussion and open/honest discussions of ethical challenges, we will not learn from the mistakes and/or successes of others.
Those interested in presenting should submit an abstract by 01 April 2026 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words with titles ten words or less. Your abstract should focus on the key points of your presentation and the most important lessons learned. Some accompanying notes to your abstract on how you intend to structure your presentation would also be welcome. Presentations for the 2026 European Symposium will be selected based on their technical strength and potential to educate a broad international spectrum of attendees. Each technical presentation selected is given a 30-minute slot, including 25 minutes for the technical presentation and 5 minutes for questions from the audience.
Written papers are not required as there will be no published proceedings from the symposium, but they are welcome and will be looked upon favorably by the committee for the lasting contribution to the society.
PLEASE NOTE: PRESENTATIONS MUST BE TECHNICALLY ORIENTED, NOT SALES ORIENTED.
REMINDER: You do not need to be an SETP Member to submit an abstract, so please share with your flight test colleagues. All SETP events are open to the public.