London, CANADA! Continuing the Journey to Bound Chaos & Mitigate Risk

International Test Pilot School 

Did you know there is a London Canada?  I certainly didn’t.  Originally a British armory, London is now a quaint city that in some ways reflects its UK namesake.  Downtown Indian food and presence abound with street names that reveal its British heritage.  Being north of the Great Lakes, I was prepared to brave icy cold.  Even though it was late October, I was fortunate to arrive in a warm spell that didn’t even require a jacket...at least until the last day. 

I flew into Toronto, which was a 2-hour drive away from London.   Opting to take a large van shuttle to avoid a costly rental I was able to entertain my driver and other passengers with songs playing my guitar from the backseat of a 12-passenger van.  It was fun and I think made the trip go faster for all. It was a first for me to play in the dark and a litmus test on how well I had mastered some songs.  

The Armory Hotel

I had traveled to London to attend the annual Society of Flight Test Engineers Symposium being held at International Test Pilot School facilities which had grown into a  highly respected test pilot school due to the vision of Italian Flight Test Engineer, Giorgio Clementi.  I traveled there primarily because of my role on the SFTE Board of Directions.  I  had subsequently also been invited to serve as a judge for the presentations and present the talk I had just given the week before in London, UK on “the evolution of risk mitigation in complex systems.”  A pleasant surprise was the relationships I nurtured & developed.

Kelly Johnson Award Winner Giorgio Clementi (C) &
Test Pilot Extraordinaire, Billie Flynn (R)

The symposium was a spectacular, watershed event. Attendance from major and start-up aerospace companies from around the globe made this event a feast for learning about the most recent developments in traditional and emerging technologies to included hypersonic travel (NY to London in 30 minutes), electric aircraft and autonomous aircraft that learned to fly real time.  Listening to mind expanding presentations, surrounded by one-of-a-kind test aircraft, and talking with brilliant practitioners, young and old created a truly unique vibe. I had become an integral part of an international "family" and in some ways a senior spokesman.  It felt satisfying, but as I said in my talk the real keys remain to stay humble, listen, and learn.  I met David Wallace, a legend in the aerospace industry.  I learned he grew up in Ukiah, went to the same high school and was a year younger than me! (we didn't remember each other)  

Dave Wallace

Several presentations highlighted two emerging challenges arising from the incorporation of highly sophisticated computational capabilities to include Artificial Intelligence (AI).  First, how to mitigate AND accept risk in a “complex” world.  Secondly, the changing roles pilots (operators) and engineers will have in future autonomous aircraft, vehicles, and spacecraft. In traditional aircraft,  test pilots provide a critical set of thinking skills based on their competency and experience. But how will future testers (of any variety) bring the traditional test pilot paradigm “to the table” when there is no pilot AND pilots get less and less experience interacting as operators with the vehicle and honing their skills through mistakes? ITPS also gave us a tour of their "Fused Virtual Reality" training sims which provided students an incredible next generation realistic immersive environment     

I want one of these!

Fused reality F-35

 I was in the "matrix".   A picture was emerging that built on the London UK workshop.  Technology was going to change our world in dramatic fashion in the not too distant future. I had to remind myself the human element remains critical.   CEO Margaret Heffernan's 2019 TED talk, "The Human Skills We Need in an Unpredictable World", puts a point on this, explaining that the essential nature of human interaction is more  important than any technology. Question remains - will we survive to see the fruition of these new technologies?