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JB Brown (F) Named NTPS President

National Test Pilot School (NTPS) Mojave, CA

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, NTPS President & CEO, Dr. Allen L. (AL) Peterson is pleased to announce that Mr. James E. (JB) Brown III has been selected as the next NTPS President effective 3 September 2021. As President, Mr. Brown will be responsible for ensuring NTPS meets all facets of its Mission and Strategic Goals.

JB joined NTPS in 2016 after retiring from Lockheed Martin where he served in a numerous flight test positions in the F-117 and F-22 programs including Chief Test Pilot. While at NTPS, he served in a variety of management positons including Vice President, COO, CFO, Head of Training, and Chief FW Test Pilot Instructor.  JB also spent a few thousand hours passing on flight test knowledge test to students both in the classroom and in the air. 

JB is a Fellow and Past President of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, a Fellow in the Royal Aeronautical Society, and a member of Daedalians. He has a BS in Civil Engineering from VMI, a MS in Management from Troy State University, and is a graduate of USAF Test Pilot School class 86A.

Mr. Luca Campello will replace Brown as NTPS COO. Dr. Peterson will continue as the NTPS Chief Executive Officer focusing on Strategic Initiatives across the NTPS enterprise.

First Manned eVTOL Flight in America

On July 27, 2021, Damian Hischier (M) performed the first manned eVTOL flight in America during the EAA AirVenture 2021 airshow in Oshkosh.

Here you can find a video of this historical flight:

https://mediahub-volocopter.pixxio.media/collection/46/detail/1631#downloadarea

Calspan 75th Anniversary

This year Calspan celebrates its 75th anniversary.  In January 1946, the Curtis Wright Research Laboratory was donated to Cornell University, and it became the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory (C.A.L.). C.A.L., now Calspan, developed one of the first variable stability aircraft, a Navy F-4U, in 1948.  Since that time Calspan has developed several generations of in-flight simulator aircraft culminating in the United States Air Force (USAF) VISTA NF-16D based at the USAF Test Pilot School (TPS) at Edwards Air Force Base in California.  Today, Calspan proudly provides maintenance, operations support, engineering, and curriculum development for the USAF TPS VISTA/F-16.  With their fleet of variable stability aircraft, Calspan supports the training curricula at the USAF TPS, the United States Naval TPS, the Empire TPS, the (French) EPNER TPS, The National TPS, and numerous other test organizations.  Calspan is committed to providing flight test services and training around the world for decades to come.