Panel Discussion on Automation – Unintended Consequences on Pilot Handling Skills and Aviation Safety; strong technical programme confirmed

The 2019 Annual Conference of the Aeronautical Society of South Africa (a division of the Royal Aeronautical Society) takes place on 16-18 October 2019 at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria. Its theme is African Aerospace: Innovation & Passion. For more information, visit www.aessa.org.za

We introduced our international speakers, Billie Flynn, Lockheed Martin, F-35 Lightning II Test Pilot, and Ricardo Traven, Chief Test Pilot – Boeing Charleston.787 Dreamliner Program, some time ago. On 17 October 2019 they join a distinguished group of pilots for a panel discussion on a topic of great interest to the aviation fraternity: Automation – Unintended Consequences on Pilot Handling Skills and Aviation Safety. The discussion will be facilitated by Maj. Gen. Desmond Barker SAAF Rtd, who says, “If ever there was a need for design engineers and pilots to draw closer to one another, it is now. As pilots, we need to ensure that engineers understand the pilot’s world with all its nuances, particularly the role of the pilot in dealing with the increasingly innovative engineering we are faced with in aircraft design.”

Billie Flynn and Ricardo Traven will join Captain Scully Levin, Mango Airlines; Captain Martin Louw, BA Comair; Captain Stefan Poprawa, South African Airways; and Captain Glen Warden, BA Comair, on this panel of highly experienced experts.

************************************************************************************************

After 40 years in the SAAF as a combat and experimental test pilot, Maj. Gen. Desmond Barker (SM, MM, MSETP, FRAeS) moved across to the CSIR in 2008 where he headed up the Aeronautics Research Unit until 2016. He served as the Chief Test Pilot from 1990 at TFDC, Base Commander AFB Overberg from 1995, Air Attaché United Kingdom from 2000, Base Commander AFB Makhado from 2004, and in 2008, retired as Chief of Air Staff Operations.  After 40 years of service, he had accumulated 7 250+ flying hours (more than 6,000 hours on fast jets) on 58 different types and an A1 QFI rating. 

He is the author of Zero Error Margin – Display Flying Analysed published in 2003 and as a test pilot, he authored a handbook for general aviation pilots in 2013, Guidelines for the Flight Testing of Experimental and Homebuilt Aircraft.  In 2017, he co-authored a book, Wings Over Langebaanweg – A History of Fighter Training in the South African Air Force, from Spitfire to Impala.  He has forwarded a manuscript to the International Council of Air Shows in the USA, The Anatomy of Airshow Accidents, for publishing at the end of 2019, which will focus amongst others, on the decision-making and the fickleness of judgement of display pilots. 

He was a member of the SAAF formation aerobatic team, the Silver Falcons, and a display pilot on the Aermacchi 326 Impala, Cheetah C, Mirage F1 and Canberra.  As a Reserve Force member of the SAAF, he currently flies the Piaggio P-166 Albatross, Aermacchi AM-3C/AM-4 and Explorer at the SAAF Heritage Flight.

He remains self-employed as a civilian experimental test pilot and flies numerous other civilian aircraft for the Warbirds Aircraft Maintenance Organisation at Wonderboom Airport in Pretoria.  He serves as the Vice President of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (South Africa Division) and serves on the boards of the Aeronautical Society of South Africa, and of Airshow South Africa.

In 2011 he was awarded The European Society of Experimental Test Pilots Flight Test Gerard Guillamaud Safety Award “in recognition of his contribution to the demonstration of flight test prototypes”.  In 2012 he was awarded the European Airshow Council Paul Bowen Award “in recognition of his contribution to airshow safety in Europe”.  In 2018 he was awarded the European Airshow Council Ceremonial Sword (Jock Maitland), “in recognition of his long-term contribution and support of Airshow Pilots and Organizers across the Globe in pursuit of Safety and Excellence in the Airshow Community”. 

In September 2018, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the world’s highest distinction for aerospace achievement awarded for only the most outstanding contributions to the aerospace profession. This honour is conferred on those whose careers, leadership, inspiration and impact marks them out as among the most eminent, widely recognised and influential aerospace professionals of their generation.

**********************************************************************************

Working tirelessly in the background to make the AeSSA’s 2019 Annual Conference a reality, have been Marié Botha, President of the Aeronautical Society of South Africa, and Chair of the Organising Committee, and Michael Atkins, Head: Technical Committee of the AeSSA’s 2019 Annual Conference.

Botha says. “To thrive in the aerospace industry today, one cannot be mediocre.  Competing on the world stage requires innovative, world-leading components, technologies, aircraft and systems. Passion is what helps one to stay the course for development in aerospace. We believe the technical presentations on our programme will bear testimony to the outcomes of these imperatives.”

Day 1 and 2 of the conference programme have eight technical sessions, covering a range of topics including aerodynamics and control, satellite technology, aircraft performance and design, aerospace manufacturing, aerospace propulsion, rocket propulsion and other topics. Some 28 local and international presenters are scheduled to talk on their work from 16 to 17 October 2019. Atkins confirms, “We are very pleased with the quality and range of submissions and are delighted to be hosting our presenters and other attendees at this conference.”

The conference concludes on day 3 with a tour to The Airplane Factory in Johannesburg, an excellent illustrative example of African Aerospace: Innovation and Passion.

The AeSSA 2019 Annual conference programme appears at www.aessa.org.za/conference/programme/