The SFTE EC Jesualdo Martinez Award In Flight Testing has been created to commemorate our colleague and board member Jesualdo Martines Rodanes, who tragically deceased in the accident of A400M MSN 23, in Seville in May 2015.
The European Chapter held its annual event from September 1 to 3 at Cranfield in England, hosted by the International Test Pilot's School (ITPS). Over 60 people registered, representing eight countries from as far afield as the USA and South Africa.
Over the two days a wide range of topics were covered in some very interesting papers. ITPS generously provided a very entertaining first evening with an Old English flavour,including a variety of folk dancing, archery through the ages, falconry (have they returned yet?) and fire eating jugglers who kept off the evening chill.
Woburnn Abbey provided the beautiful setting for the dinner where there was music for those who still had enough energy for dancing. The outgoing president and his wife set a good example that was hard to follow.
The final day consisted of a visit to the Defence Research Agency's Aerospace Division at Bedford where briefings on some of their research projects were given, followed by a tour of hangars and facilities. After lunch there was a visit to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford where there were almost too many aircraft displayed in the hangars and flying to do justice to in one afternoon.