Sojourner - Traveling with the “Canman”

  In July, I was invited to speak at the AIAA AVIATION Symposium, in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The Aviation Symposium is a gathering of more than 2,500 professionals shaping the future of aerospace. A major theme was navigating the future, with a spotlight on sustainability and AI—two forces that will profoundly affect not only air vehicles, but also fuels, propulsion, training, and air traffic management.  AIAA does it right.  Lots of resources.  I shared my perspective on the FTE challenges (complexity, AI, and lack of professional standards) in a 45-minute talk, which really gave me a chance to flesh out the topics.  I also joined a panel on sustainability. While not my area of expertise, my key message resonated: every model, roadmap, and visionary design must eventually be tested to prove its viability. Bringing flight testers into the process early is critical to making sound decisions that will propel our organizations toward more effective, safe, and effi...

  Back to Mendocino I’m back in Northern California, staying in Mendocino for my Uncle Bobby’s memorial near Little River, a few miles inland from the coast. He passed at 93 in the home he built from redwood trees on the same land where he, my dad, and their two siblings were born in the 1920s. The old farmhouse where my grandparents lived is long gone, but his house stands just a hundred yards from where it was. Uncle Bob was the youngest of the four and the last to pass. The memorial was casual and comfortable—a picnic under old apple trees my grandparents planted and tall sequoias that began as Christmas tree seedlings I planted with my dad fifty years ago. Uncle Bob had left the area for a time, going to junior college, serving in the Army, and working in city politics in the East Bay before coming back to the family farm. He spent his later years organizing veteran events and enjoying life on the coast. His three daughters and their families eventually followed him back, all...