Welcome to SETP

IT FLIES Aircraft Design Competition for Students

On Saturday, 6 April 2019, the Great Lakes Section of Society of Experimental Test Pilots supported a University of Dayton hosted IT FLIES aircraft design competition for students using their engineering flight simulator.  SETP members Ed Conant, Frank Delsing, Brad Fairfax and Gary Konnert evaluated the handling qualities of the student designs in the Merlin engineering simulator.  Local SFTE members judged the associated presentation portion of the competition.  The volunteers helped support this exciting Science, Technology, Engineering and Math educational initiative and inspire budding aeronautical engineers.  This international contest was held at the University of Dayton (UD) campus' Kettering Labs building with contestants from not only the local university, but the University of Cincinnati, University of Manchester, England and University of South Wales, England,  as well.  Between student presentations the volunteers conducted a simulator flight evaluation of each team’s model .  The teams briefed the pilots on their aircraft’s operations and configurations.  Throughout the day approximately 8 simulator evaluations were accomplished.  The models ranged from clean sheet designs of a fire bomber to a solar powered motor glider to a business jet to training aircraft.  Each simulator flight evaluation lasted about 20 minutes.  Afterwards the Test Pilot provided a personal de-brief with the team on their model’s handling qualities.  This gave the students their first exposure to working in a flight test team environment.  The actual simulator evaluations and real time evaluator comments were observable by all the contestants through a visual/audio hook up into the presentation room.   The students were highly enthusiastic and motivated by the competition and chance to talk their design over with actual test pilots and engineers.  The winners this year were designs for a WWI Triplane from University of Dayton, a flying boat from the University of South Wales and the Galaxy general aviation aircraft from the University of Manchester.  This was the chapter’s ninth year supporting this competition and we always have a great time talking aviation and inspiring future engineers.

Gary Konnert with Students of the IT FLIES Aircraft Design Competition 

Ed Conant (right) with the Winning Students and SFTE Volunteers

SETP Members Featured in AIR & SPACE Magazine

F-35: What The Pilots Say

Firsthand accounts of flying the world's most advanced fighter.

https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/f-35-faces-most-critical-test-180971734/

2018 Robert J. Collier Trophy

Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System Team to Receive the 2018 Robert J. Collier Trophy

 Click here to download the Press Release

National Aerospace Library Sound Archive - Sir Vernon Brown - Flying WW1 Aircraft / Aeroelasticity / Cody / 1959 BBC Radio Series

For your information a sound recording of  Sir Vernon Brown's 1969 lecture recalling his flying experiences with various aircraft types during the First World War and after has just been added to the National Aerospace Library Sound Archive - a real 'Who's Who' of aviation personalities and historical subjects based on original recordings held in the Library's archives - and is now available to listen to via the Royal Aeronautical Society's SoundCloud web-site :-

www.aerosociety.com/podcast

The specific link to the recording is (just click on the arrow button to 'Play'):-

https://www.aerosociety.com/news/audio-classic-lecture-series-flying-aircraft-in-the-first-world-war-and-beyond-by-air-commodore-sir-vernon-brown/

The  recording of Sir Vernon Brown's lecture has been released alongside a 1977 sound recording of Professor A. R. Collar’s lecture 'The First 50 Years of Aeroelasticity' and a recent  recording of the aviation historian Peter Reese on the life of the pioneering aviator S. F. Cody of whom he wrote the most recent biography The Flying Cowboy: Samuel Cody - Britain's First Airman.

 In addition historic sound recordings from a 1959 BBC radio series have also recently been added to the National Aerospace Library Sound Archive.

Produced for BBC Overseas Service by R. A. Symes-Schutzmann, the radio documentary series was a group of talks on the development of British aviation broadcast by BBC External Services in 1959 in the series 'English Talks for Asia'. 

With the programmes linked by Charles Gibbs-Smith, they include recordings of Lord Brabazon, Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, Major G. P. Bulman, Sir Harold Roxbee Cox, Sir Graham Sutton, Sir Alan Cobham, Captain O. P. Jones, ACM Sir Alec Coryton, Hayne Constant, Sir Robert Watson-Watt, A. A. Lombard, Sir George Edwards, Captain John Cunningham and Geoffrey Hall discussing the development of British aviation from their own personal perspectives.

All six episodes in the series – based on the original recordings held in the archives of the National Aerospace Library - are now available to listen to via the Royal Aeronautical Society's SoundCloud web-site:-

www.aerosociety.com/podcast

The specific link to the recordings are as follows (just click on the arrow button to 'Play') :-

https://www.aerosociety.com/news/audio-archive-recording-powered-flight-the-british-contribution-to-flying

A quick link to the historic lectures and speeches available so far (including Sir Frederick Handley Page, Igor Sikorsky, Jeffrey Quill, Peter Twiss, Charles H. Gibbs-Smith, Andrew Brookes, Silvius Dornier, Sir Richard Glazebrook, Commander Graeme Rowan-Thomson, Keith Hayward, Sir Dermot Boyle, Philip Wills, Chris Yeo, Captain John Cecil Kelly-Rogers, Col. Al Worden, Peter Hearne, Sir George Edwards,  Captain John Cecil Kelly-Rogers, John Farley, A. W. 'Bill' Bedford, H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh, Christopher Bartlett, Andy Sephton and Dr. Ron Smith) is:-

https://soundcloud.com/aerosociety-podcast/sets/classic-lecture-series

A quick link to the extended interviews available so far (including interviews with Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown, Chuck Yeager, Scott Crossfield,  Handel Davies, Al White, Bill Humble, Pete Knight, Dick Johnson, Philip Lucas, Peter Bugge, Col. Emil ‘Ted’ Sturmthal, Harald Penrose, John Morton, D. P. Davies, Jeffrey Quill, John Cunningham, Sir Barnes Wallis, R. A. C. Brie, Sir Harry Ricardo, Clayton Knight and Henry Knowler) is :-

https://soundcloud.com/aerosociety-podcast/sets/an-interview-with 

All the historic podcasts released via the National Aerospace Library Sound Archive can also now be downloaded for free via iTunes:-

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/aerosociety-podcast/id1216235459?mt=2

The intention of the National Aerospace Library Sound Archive project is to create a historically significant oral history archive which makes the voices of the past (pilots, engineers, scientists etc.) 'alive' once more to inspire and inform current and future generations and the sound archive has attracted a number of favourable comments / interest via social media.

Please note that  if these recordings or extracts from these recordings are to be reproduced  in any  way  (book,  journal  article,  web-site etc.), acknowledgement should  be  made to  the ‘Royal  Aeronautical  Society  (National Aerospace Library)’  as being  the source of  the original.

Please feel welcome to forward details of these historic aviation recordings to anyone who may be interested.

An online version of  an article  published in the Royal Aeronautical Society's magazine Aerospace December 2017 which describes the National Aerospace Library Sound Archive project is available via the following web-site:-

 https://www.aerosociety.com/news/listen-to-aviation-voices-come-alive/