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Dream Big, Lessons from Testers & History: A Week in Berlin

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     Brandenburg Gate, with the pretzel   I had never been to Berlin. I arrived in early June for the 37th SFTE European Symposium and left with a head full of flight test insights, great memories with colleagues old and new, sober reminders from history, and a new appreciation for the coming aviation future. Day one, obviously, called for a pretzel at the Brandenburg Gate.  The SFTE European symposium was held out in Adlershof, on the far southeast side of the city, so I got to know the train system quickly. Berlin-Adlershof station Opening Session at the Symposium More than 100 flight test professionals from across Europe and beyond gathered from June 7 to 10 around the theme "Dreams and Hard Realities in Flight Test: Dream Big, Test Harder." The program covered standards, certification, safety-critical systems, UAVs, AI, data acquisition, and training. Speakers came from DLR, Airbus, Leonardo, NLR, ITPS, ETPS, INTA, BAE Systems, Gulfstream, the Indian Air F...
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Brazil, Flight Test, Caipirinha, and the Fine Art of Saying “Obrigado”

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I arrived in Brazil on Saturday, March 21, after the kind of travel day that sounds efficient on paper and feels like a minor act of endurance in real life: DFW to Miami, then overnight to São Paulo. I had chosen first class, thinking I needed to arrive rested, polished, and ready to represent SFTE with dignity.  But if you're not going to eat the food, well, maybe premium economy is good enough... I did start watching a great movie, titled "The Life of Chuck."   Landing in São Paulo, I stepped out of Terminal 3 at GRU, requested my Uber Comfort as planned, and made my way to Hotel Heritage on Rua Fernando de Albuquerque in Consolação. The airport-to-city transition was easier than expected, which is always a pleasant surprise when arriving in a country where your language skills are mostly limited to hope, pointing, and “Obrigado.”  From the airplane window, São Paulo looked endless: towers, neighborhoods, green corridors, haze, density, motion. It was not a city th...
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Location: São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil
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Going Supersonic in "Sunny" Colorado

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  Boom Aerospace is the quintessential American dream story.  Great ideas, engineers, and entrepreneurs.  It was so neat to visit and learn about how this team made history. And with my dear friend Dave we got to hike in the mountains.  We were going to go skiing, but climate change is real... My SFTE  News Release  below SFTE President Visits Boom Supersonic to Present JSM Award 03/04/2026 SFTE President  Jeff Canclini  visited  Boom Supersonic headquarters in Centennial, Colorado , where he presented the  James S. McDonnell Team Award  to the  XB-1 flight test team  in recognition of their outstanding achievement in flight test engineering. The visit included a discussion with  Boom Founder and CEO Blake Scholl , who shared the story behind Boom’s founding and the vision driving the development of next-generation supersonic transport. During the visit,  XB-1 Test Director and current Head of Engine Programs Nic...
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Location: Denver, CO, USA
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