AeroSociety Podcast

In this lecture Jean-Jacques Dordain share his experiences of working at the European Space Agency (ESA) for nearly thirty years, the last twelve of which he has been the Agency’s Director General. Mr Dordain will step down from this position in June 2015.

Sir Roy McNulty, Chairman of Gatwick Airport Limited discusses the principal trends which have affected the industry in the UK over the past 40 years and looks ahead at the future challenges facing commercial aviation.

The first operational Wildcat HMA Mk2 crews are being trained to achieve the required high level of tactical and technical proficiency on entry-into-service. Training of the Wildcat crews has taken training to new levels using a purpose built training centre, the Wildcat Training Centre, conceived and developed through team work among the MoD and the Industrial partnership of AgustaWestland, Indra and Pennant. This lecture will describe the operational capability provided by Wildcat and how its crews are being made ready to play their intended roles as part of an integrated naval weapon system capability.

The AW609 is an AgustaWestland (AW) twin engine tilt rotor aircraft that is being certified in the FAA powered lift category. Its lineage can be traced back through the V-22 Osprey to the XV-15 and the XV-3. The AW609 will be certificated in the FAA powered lift category. Paul Edwards, AW609 Test Pilot discusses the the flight testing challenges.

This lecture provided an update on the Rosetta mission after the lecture delivered at the Society in June 2014, prior to the landing. It briefly summarized the objectives of the mission and the most important milestones of the 10 year flight, before concentrating on the most recent events: the arrival at the comet, the challenges of developing the comet model while orbiting it, and of course the landing. The exciting operations on the day of the landing and over the 2.5 days on the surface will be presented, together with an overview of the future activities of this extremely challenging and unique space mission.

Commercial aviation safety is the best it has ever been, and flight operations are effectively and efficiently moving forward. While recognising the many successes in aviation, there are increasing expectations of safety, new technologies, new airspace operations, new generations of aviation professionals and other factors that are changing aviation. There are both challenges and opportunities in these changes, and fundamental questions to be answered. This lecture will discuss those challenges and opportunities, and identify fundamental underlying questions.

Howard Torode, Chairman, Tehcnical Committee, British Gliding Association and Afandi Darlington, Senior Inspector of Air Accidents (Engineering), AAIB speak about gliding and soaring having held a mutual relationship with mainstream aviation developments ever since the experiments of Sir George Cayley in 1852, through to the birth of modern aviation in the 1900’s and to the present day. This lecture discussed the experiences of sailplane designers throughout the twentieth century, in pursuit of higher aerodynamic performance, and compare these with parallel application of similar technologies in mainstream aircraft design. Howard and Afandi drew on well known aerospace design philosophies, and showed examples of how they have been equally applied to the design of sailplanes, including the benefits and lessons learnt. The lecture also demonstrated how the continuing technological developments have enabled sailplane pilots to continue to expand their wide soaring horizons. The speakers concluded with a forward look at how sailplanes might be developed into the future using both evolutionary and disruptive technology.

This lecture considered the 'Within' and 'Beyond' line of sight applications of remotely piloted applications and their commercial potential.

Keith Dennison, Chief Test Pilot, related the testing story that started in August 2013, illustrating how the inevitable development issues were resolved. e-Go aeroplanes was formed in 2007 to develop and market a range of light aircraft, of which the single-seat e-Go is the first.

The presentation reviewed the current state-of-the-art, and historical achievements, in laser communications (LOS/BLOS) in air and space. Current and future trends were discussed, as well as an outline of current and future developments.

Dale Tutt, the Scorpion Programme Manager, and Dan Hinson, the Chief Test Pilot, relate the story of the Textron AirLand Scorpion from a clean sheet design to the first flight of the Scorpion in less than 2 years.

The Wilbur & Orville Wright Lecture is the principal event in the Society’s year, given by distinguished members of the US and UK aerospace communities. The 2014 Lecture will be delivered by Patrick M Dewar, Executive Vice President, Lockheed Martin International.

The Hon. Sir Charles Haddon-Cave, High Court Judge, Judiciary of England and Wales delivers the 2014 Beaumont Named Lecture and discusses the lessons learned from the Nimrod Review.

This Space Group lecture will be split into two parts and be given by Doug Liddle from SSTL and Steve Greenland from Clyde Space.

This presentation explored the medical services provided to European astronauts and examined the challenges that come out of this, the training of astronauts and the medical health care providers. It concluded with a view of future space medicine on exploration class missions.