2006 Gary L. Aldrich

Nomination of Mr. Gary Aldrich
for the
SFTE 2006 "Kelly" Johnson Award

It is my pleasure to nominate Mr. Gary Aldrich for the Society of Flight Test Engineers “Kelly” Johnson award for his career dedication to excellence and outstanding achievement in flight test engineering. Mr. Aldrich has contributed to the field not only through his own notable contributions but even more through the flight testers that he has trained over many years.

In 1981, Captain Aldrich learned of the USAF Test Pilot School (TPS) and its program for Flight Test Engineers (FTE) and decided that flight test was where he would like to go with his Air Force career. He applied and was accepted into USAF TPS Class 82A. Graduating as an Air Force Flight Test Engineer in December 1982, he quickly left his mark on the F-16XL, A-10, and T-46 programs. He became the Chief Engineer (and sometimes the only engineer) at the A-10 Combined Test Force (CTF). He authored an Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) technical report on Single Seat Night Attack, which had been tested in the Air Force’s sole A-10B. The results in this report went on to define the operational doctrine for the Low Altitude Targeting and Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) system, as used on F-15s and F-16s through the end of the cold war, Operation Desert Storm, and even to the present day. He is one of only a very small handful of FTEs who has officially logged flight time in an A-10. After Air Force retirement, he spent two years as an FTE for the Theater Airborne Reconnaissance System (TARS) on the F-16.

However, the primary focus of Mr. Aldrich’s career in flight test has been as an instructor at USAF TPS. He has spent 9 years of his 22 year Air Force career on staff at TPS, and has been serving in his current position on the TPS staff for 8 years. On his first tour, Major Aldrich started many years of teaching airborne and control room flight test conduct to engineers, navigators, and pilots alike. In the classroom he taught them the ways to effectively manage their test programs. In addition, he was responsible for the academic schedule for the senior class, a challenging exercise of arranging classes working with “n” equations and “n minus a lot” unknowns.

Anxious to get back to training flight testers, Lt. Colonel Aldrich returned from an overseas assignment for a second tour at TPS, this time as the Director of the Technical Support Division. While continuing to train new flight testers in the methods of test conduct and test management, he was also responsible for all of the equipment necessary to teach the TPS curriculum. His tenure saw the retirement of the F-4, A-7, U-6, and UV-18 and the arrival of the F-16, F-15, and C-141 at TPS. This rapid change of airframes brought new challenges, as these aircraft had to be quickly instrumented to serve in the curriculum. He led the technical support division to accomplish this challenge, as well as the installation of a new telemetry ground station to improve the control room training. With these new aircraft and instrumentation also came the ability to introduce the students to modern flight test techniques, such as the F-16 Limit Cycle Oscillation and deep stall testing.

After retirement from the Air Force, Mr. Aldrich would soon return to TPS as the Master Instructor in the Test Management Branch. Once again, he would get back to training the engineers, navigators, and pilots of today to be the flight testers of tomorrow. In this position he would stabilize and improve the Air Force’s most effective curriculum for teaching management of test programs, with the most challenging part being the organization of eight complete mini-test programs each year, the students’ capstone “Test Management Projects.” In these projects, the students learn by experience the subtle details of test management by actually running a test program through planning, testing, and reporting.

Mr. Aldrich’s work would not be limited to just teaching test management. He led the creation of the “FTE Airmanship” program, the most significant improvement in FTE training during the nine years that I have been on TPS staff. Through ground school and five flights in a light aircraft, FTEs are introduced to aircrew duty in an instructional environment prior to flying in fast jets, where experienced pilots will expect them to fulfill aircrew duties from the start. This is a major “leg up” for FTEs with limited or no flying experience and has made a noticeable difference in their performance in subsequent training. Mr. Aldrich was responsible for creating much of the course material and has been a ground and flight instructor in the program since its inception.

Mr. Aldrich also had a major part in the development of the “First Flight Checkride”, a practical test in the Flying Qualities phase. He has also been a major player in the Performance phase checkride, either as an evaluator during the checkride or as a test conduct coach for the students during the preparatory flights. As the Chief Soaring Pilot, he has been the lead for broadening the students’ experience base by teaching them about flying aircraft with very different characteristics than what they are used to (namely lower drag and the lack of a powerplant). Beyond just learning to fly without an engine, student flight testers learn to evaluate the flying qualities of an unfamiliar aircraft. Finally, they have the opportunity to learn and practice spin testing, an area where most of them have very little experience.

Even in view of these accomplishments, Mr. Aldrich’s biggest impact on the flight test community at large has not been through the direct result of his actions, but as an indirect result. In his 17 years of teaching at TPS, he has personally trained, mentored, or influenced 804 student test pilots, flight test navigators, and flight test engineers, plus an untold number of other TPS staff members, AFFTC employees, contractors, and other members of the flight test community. Mr. Aldrich’s students have gone on to rise to high levels of prominence, such as the Test Pilot School Commandant, the 412th Test Wing and 46th Test Wing Commanders, the Air Force Flight Test Center Commander, the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) Deputy for Operations, numerous influential Colonel billets at the Pentagon, and even into space as NASA Astronauts.

Perhaps more important, though, is his influence on the rank and file testers of the Air Force flight test community. Virtually all of the military flight testers currently working in AFMC learned how to test airplanes and systems from Mr. Aldrich. This holds true for the civilian and contractor flight test personnel who were fortunate enough to attend USAF TPS at one time. It would be very difficult to find any test pilots, flight test navigators, or flight test engineers working today who have not learned something of importance to their job from Mr. Aldrich.

Even those who have not had the opportunity to attend USAF TPS have likely learned something from a colleague who learned it from Mr. Aldrich. Thus, the safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of Air Force flight test can be traced back to the quiet yet relentless work of Mr. Aldrich. More than anyone else, Mr. Aldrich has built the current flight test community, not from a position of high prominence but from directly mentoring and teaching those who would go on to make the big headlines. I say that he is most deserving of this recognition by his peers, many of whom already recognize him as a big part of how they got to where they are today.