2021 James Sergeant

I am writing to nominate Mr. James Sergeant, acting Flight Test Director at Virgin Galactic and SFTE President Emeritus board member for 2021 Kelly Johnson Award.

James’ contributions and leadership over his 38 year career in flight test are extraordinary and have made a significant impact in the flight test engineering field across multiple aircraft/spacecraft platforms and the careers of many FTE’s. This included numerous highly unique prototype aircraft and first flights. A summary of his accomplishments follows:

In 1983 while completing his BSAE at the University of Texas at Arlington, James led the team that brought the High Reynolds Number Transonic (HIRT) wind tunnel (donated by USAF) to operational status. This included planning, building the hardware, and conducing UTA HIRT’s first test runs.

Beginning his professional FTE career in 1984 with General Dynamics, James developed flight test plans, conducted testing, flew test flights and wrote reports for numerous F-16 C/D flight test programs for USAF and foreign customers. Starting in 1985 James, developed and conducted test flights for the F-16 Reconnaissance (Recce) program, including an offshoot project fitting the F-16 Recce pod to a Cessna 208 for display and demonstration throughout the US and Canada and at the 1988 Farnborough Airshow. James was the author of two separate flight test reports for F-16 Recce and Cessna 208 Recce.

James’s early accomplishments and expertise gained him recognition as a talented FTE and rising star resulting in additional unique and challenging assignments.

In 1987, James was picked to develop the flight test program for YF-22A Advanced Tactical Fighter competition and to be its First Flight test conductor. James’ expertise, passion, and leadership during this high-profile test program were instrumental in the USAF selecting the F-22 over the F-23 in 1991.

In 1991, James developed, conducted, and flew the flight test airworthiness and envelope expansion program for a uniquely configured C-130. This was the EC-130V that fitted an E-2C Hawkeye rotodome and operator’s pallet onto a C-130H for a Coast Guard drug interdiction mission in the Caribbean. James authored the final flight test report.

In 1993, James was tapped to lead flight testing for a highly-modified F-16 that incorporated Multi-axis Thrust Vectoring (MATV). This one-of-a-kind testbed technology demonstrator involved unique testing at extremely high angles of attack. James developed and conducted the MATV flight test program that evaluated the tactical usefulness of thrust vectoring for air-to-air engagements. He also authored the final flight test report and was one of the team members to receive the 1994 Kelly Johnson Team award.

From 1994 to 1995 James developed, conducted the initial flight test program and authored the final flight test report for another one-of-a-kind F-16 known as VISTA. VISTA incorporated a highly-advanced, variable-stability, fly-by-wire flight control system developed and incorporated by CALSPAN. In addition to being the test conductor, James flew a student syllabus profile from the front seat! A singularly unique accomplishment for an FTE.

From 1996-2001 James distinguished himself on the highly-competitive X-35 program that was performed at 3 test sites: Palmdale, CA; Edwards AFB, CA; and Patuxent River NAS, MD. James served as Test Director for all X-35A and X-35C test flights. He developed a hover pit concept used for the first hover press-ups at Palmdale on the STOVL X-35B. He oversaw development and use of two mobile real-time control rooms and data processing for this fast-paced, competitive program at 3 different test sites. X-35’s highly successful flight test program led to Lockheed Martin receiving the contract award for the F-35.

James was next selected to be the manager for the F-35 flight test program planning the initial flight tests and deployment to Edwards AFB and NAS Patuxent River test sites. He hired and integrated flight test engineers from several different US and foreign partner companies and was instrumental in the highly successful test program; the largest in DOD history.

In 2017 James was tapped by Lockheed Martin to develop the ground and flight test program for the NASA’s X-59 and supersonic “Low-Boom” technology demonstrator schedule to fly in 2022.

Turning his sights to space James was hired by Virgin Galactic in 2020 to serve as the Deputy Flight Test Director. He is currently the acting Flight Test Director for this sub-orbital program that is opening space flight to humans and researchers from around the world.

Beyond actual flight test programs, James’s 38 years of active involvement in the Society of Flight Test Engineers and the flight test community is unparalleled for its breadth and impact. Several of his leadership initiatives show his strong commitment to developing the professional skills and network for our next generation of FTE’s. His track record speaks for itself:

SFTE

• 1985 Joined SFTE
  
• 1991-1996 North Texas Chapter President
  
• 1994 Technical Paper presented on “F-16 MATV Flight Test Program” presented at the SFTE Washington DC International Symposium
  
• 1995 Technical Paper presented on “VISTA/F-16 Flight Test Program”, SFTE Berlin International Symposium technical paper
  
• 1996-1998 Director on SFTE Board of Directors
  
• 1998-2000 SFTE President – Instituted free trial membership for all Test Pilot School graduates that increased exposure and continues to add many new members.
  
• 2000-2002 President Emeritus on SFTE Board of Directors
  
• 2001 X-35 Simulation and Control Room Training, Flight Test Safety Workshop presentation
  
• 2001 X-35 Flight Test Program, SFTE Seattle International Symposium technical paper
  
• 2005 F-35 Flight Test Program, SFTE International Symposium technical paper
  
• 2007 SFTE Fellow
  
• 1996, 2005, 2008, 2013 SFTE International Symposium Chair, Fort Worth, TX
  
  • 1996 Instituted tech classes at symposium and first digital copy of SFTE technical proceedings on CD;
    
  • 2005 provided symposium proceedings on memory stick and in 2008 on website
    
  • 2013 combined SFTE International Symposium with SETP Southwest Sectional
    
  • 2013 created iPay providing the opportunity for members to attend without symposium fee if they have to pay their own way
    
• 2014-2018 North Texas Chapter President
  
  • Instituted monthly speaker programs at two local universities (UT Arlington and UT Dallas) to increase student/professor involvement and provide quality exposure to aerospace topics and achievers.
    
  • Tied in SETP, AIAA, University of Texas Arlington, and University of Texas Dallas for local events to increase effective local exposure from 80 SFTE North Texas members to almost 1000 aerospace engineers, students, test pilots, and teachers across numerous companies and universities.
    
  • Established SFTE North Texas sponsorships of UT Arlington and Texas A&M Sounding Rocket Teams to participate in Spaceport Americas Cup in New Mexico. Established precedent of chapter (along with AIAA) of providing hotel suites for the students to share to keep them protected and safe for the week-long, challenging competition held annually (except for COVID). Has strengthened ties between SFTE/AIAA organizations and the universities.
    
  • Established private pilot ground school at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth in 2016 sponsored by SFTE to provide basic ground school for interns and employees. Raised approximately $4000 for North Texas chapter to date.
    
• 2016 Flight Test Safety Card, Flight Test Safety Workshop presentation
  
  • 2018-2020 SFTE President
    
  • Increased the frequency of the SFTE Newsletter from monthly to weekly, highlighting chapter events, individual member renewals, and introducing new members with picture bios.
    
  • Led membership to new record level of 1127 members in 2019.
    
  • Developed more cost-effective website and registration systems.
    
• 2020-2021 Past President on SFTE Board of Directors
  
  • Continuing in his role as the Director of Membership and editor of the SFTE Newsletter, he has helped to increase individual membership to another all-time high of 1185 members. He has campaigned actively and brought in new SFTE chapters, the latest being the India Air Force TPS. His reputation and active outreach is a key element in expanding and retaining corporate sponsors.
    
• 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 SFTE/SETP/AIAA Southwest Aerospace Symposium Chair
  
  • James led effort to combined efforts of SETP Southwest Sectional, SFTE and AIAA into one great event at the local university, UT Arlington
    

As highlighted above, his insight, passion, and commitment have been instrumental to enabling access to SFTE events and information as well as in raising SFTE’s, exposure, influence and recognition worldwide. Beyond the multitude of programs and initiatives cited above, James is a consistent presence and influencer at SFTE AIAA, SETP and Flight Test Safety Committee events which was a key enabler for his success and the success of SFTE.

Outside of SFTE James’s professional flight test leadership activities are wide ranging and include:

CIRP Trained since 2016 to be Critical Incidence Responder for victims of aviation accidents, James supported Bell 525 accident counseling in 2016 along with other counseling sessions for flight test community. He is currently developing the CIRP program for the Antelope Valley, New Mexico, Virgin Galactic, and SFTE.

AIAA

• 1985 Member
  
• 1996 Senior Member
  
• 2015 Associate Fellow
  
• 2016-Present North Texas Section President
  
• 2019-Present Flight Test Technical Committee Numerous session chairs AIAA symposiums
  

International Test Pilot School 2015 ITPS Graduation Keynote Speaker

• 2016 ITPS Graduation F-35 Flight Test presentation
  
• 2017 ITPS Graduation F-35 Flight Test presentation
  
• 2018 ITPS Graduation X-59 Flight Test presentation
  
• 2019 ITPS Graduation X-59 Flight Test presentation
  
• 2020 ITPS The Spaceship Company presentation
  

In summary, in nearly 4 decades of service James Sergeant has tirelessly provided exceptional expertise, guidance, mentoring and leadership. His contributions to the safe and effective completion of several unique edge-of-the-envelope programs combined with his technical knowledge and consistent commitment to professional improvement throughout the ranks of FTE’s and burgeoning FTE’s embody the qualities honored by the SFTE Kelly Johnson award.