FTSC News

The Flight Test Safety Committee is soliciting nominations for the Tony LeVier Flight Test Safety Award & the Hugh Dryden Flight Test Safety Lifetime Achievement Award

Criteria and nomination information for the Tony LeVier Award can be found HERE. 

The deadline to submit a nomination is 25 February 2026.

Criteria and nomination information for the Hugh Dryden Flight Test Safety Lifetime Achievement Award can be found HERE. 

The deadline to submit a nomination is 25 February 2026.

What does Pike’s Peak have to do with Thanksgiving, Flight Test Safety, and flooding? “Flooding,” you wonder aloud?  Yes, flooding...

We are drowning in data and facts, pixels and posts.  It’s a flood of biblical proportions.  The answer isn’t more compute, better dashboards, or even safety management systems.  In an attempt to convince you of the answer, I want to spend a few minutes looking back at what got us here.

The “here” in the sentence above just so happens to be a beautiful photo of Pike’s Peak, but to really understand what connects them all, you’ll have to read “What Got Us Here.”

Thence, in this issue, you will find...
Award-winning Flight Test History - Martin Shubert and Dave Sizoo at the intersection of Flight Test Safety, History, and eVTOL
Two Things about Oral History: 1) An Oral History of the FTSC - Tom “Sally” Fields, a new member of the FTSC Board of Directors starts work on his story, and 2) The Second Thing about Oral History, a revitalized SETP project that will promote Flight Test Safety, how you can and should get involved, and a random interjection that uses the word “history” in a familiar context
Three Things from the SFTE Symposium (two are quick and one isn’t) - a flight test safety paper you should read, a note from the SFTE President, and Guy Gratton spends time remembering and how it relates to being an SFTE Fellow and flight test safety

After you finish reading and remembering, maybe send an email to the Editor, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and share your memories and musings.

 
Sincerely,
Mark Jones Jr.
Editor

For added security and convenience, you can download the pdf here.

Seventy-eight years ago today, on October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, and so today felt like the right time to break the silence that had fallen on this newsletter for the past five months, a result of the many changes in the editor’s stage of life that perhaps will find some reflection on these pages in the months ahead.  

This edition includes an “annual report” following the 2025 Flight Test Safety Workshop, a regular feature that I hope will inform readers of the many things accomplished by the Flight Test Safety Committee, its many members, sister organizations, and subcommittees.  Sharing this information is one of the most fundamental reasons this newsletter exists.  I hope you print it out and put it in your lunchroom, or use a magnet to hang it on your whiteboard.  I hope you share it with others in your organization that don’t know about it.

Inside this edition you will also find what one reader called a “meditation.”  I don’t think I was meditating when I wrote it, so in that sense I disagree.  But the fact that I disagree is, ironically, a reflection on the content of the column.  Several things like a video I watched and a mammoth paper about a reverend is what prompted the set of observations, puns, opinions and editorial, which I hope will also elicit a laugh or a chuckle, as it did for early readers.

In this edition, I break from an October routine that highlights scary things like Frankenstein airplanes, colorful things like orange wire and flight suits, and all the other signs that a new season has arrived in the Northern hemisphere.  For those who are reading carefully, I do think you will see that I wove in at least one of the classic illustrations, and for those who decide to dig into the archives, Turbo’s past podcasts cover the spooky elements well.  And if you don’t know about the podcast, I hope you read to the end of this month’s newsletter.

Please do send your disagreements, ideas, and suggestions to the editor, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Or talk about them during your coffee break. 

Sincerely,

Mark Jones Jr.
Editor

P.S. For convenience and security, you can download the pdf here.

The Flight Test Safety Committee is proud to announce the Award Winners from the 2025 Flight Test Safety Workshop & Banquet

Dave Houle Award for Best Flight Test Safety Workshop Presentation

(Sponsored by Bombardier)

AFCS Single Engine Approach Test Safety Improvement

Tyler (T.J.) Lawrence, Gulfstream Aerospace
Tobias van Esselstyn, Gulfstream Aerospace

(L-R) Bombardier Rep Dave Lewandowski, Award Winners Tobias van Esselstyn & T.J. Lawrence, FTSC Chair Stu Rogerson, Bombardier Rep Roger Huneycutt.

 ***

The Hugh Dryden Flight Test Safety Lifetime Achievement Award

(Sponsored by Textron Aviation)

Mr. William “Tony” Randall, Bell

(L-R) Textron Aviation Rep. Joe Phillips, Tom Currie (accepting the award on William Randall's behalf), FTSC Chair Stu Rogerson. Not Pictured William Randall.

***

The Tony LeVier Flight Test Safety Award

(Sponsored by Gentex Corporation)

Mr. Chris Glaeser, Cirrus Aircraft

(L-R) Gentex Corporation Rep. Mark Jones, Award Winner Chris Glaeser, FTSC Chair Stu Rogerson.

Do you remember when your coaches or your parents told you to “focus on the fundamentals”?  Where did that phrase come from? And is it true that Vince Lombardi said “brilliant at the basics” instead of referring to “the fundamentals”?  I ask those questions in the lead up to next week’s 2025 Flight Test Safety Workshop, which has as its theme “Brilliant at the Basics,” and because this month goes back to its infrequent, aperiodic tradition of publishing a “long read” column on the basics and the fundamentals.  

It is a long read, but I think it’s a good one.  There’s even a link to a questionnaire about the “basics” of flight test and test safety, and if you can make time for the TWO question survey, we’d be very grateful.  Also included as an attachment (AT THE END) is an older article about the same topic, and it presents the second of the two “shapes” that are featured in this article.   

Turbo starts a new mini-series on the podcast, and of course, the Chairman shares his thoughts in the lead up to our Annual Workshop.  

If you have comments, questions, or ideas that won’t fit into the survey, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Sincerely,
Mark Jones Jr.
Editor

PS For added security and convenience, you can download the pdf here.

The Flight Test Safety Database is offline, as it needs major updates.

A specific timeline to return the FTSDB to service is not available currently.

As soon as it is back in service, we will be sure to note it on flighttestsafety.org and thru our Newsletter & Podcast.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Sometimes I ponder the “days of yore” and the way scientists of the time corresponded in writing, together with the ad hoc postal system of the day.  Today, we correspond by email in near real time.  I say “near real time” because who among us responds that quickly to all of our emails?!

This month, three readers have corresponded with us by sharing their letters to the editor and their ideas, with you.  This month is one of my favorite kinds of FTSF.  

I hope you will respond.  Perhaps you have an idea that differs from my idea (github) of crowdsourcing flight test mishap data, that differs from Chia’s idea (AI/LLM) of aggregating flight test content, or Hunter’s idea (the author of the first L2tE).  

Maybe your thoughts mirror Mike’s thoughts about an SETP talk or the way the topic of the presentation illuminated your own experience, highlighted the deeper meaning beneath something you did but weren’t quite sure why.  He wrote the second L2tE.

Or there’s a chance that you want to speak up about the impact of someone’s intellectual legacy, the shadow it cast on your way of thinking—the effect Sandy’s article had on me.  His was the third.

There are many ways to do this, but here are three suggestions: 1) emailing us with your feedback; 2) email the authors directly (do you know how very meaningful that is?); 3) print out the newsletter and share it with someone in your office.  

We hope you enjoy it and that it makes you think—send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if it does.

Sincerely,
Mark Jones Jr.
Editor

PS For added security you can download the pdf here.