Committee

FTSA Committee Members

President - Mr Benjamin Luther Ben is a Flight Test Engineer with experience in F-18, P-3C, C-130 and RC-135 testing, particularly avionic and mission systems. Ben was the Commonwealth FTE at Airbus for the development of the KC-30 and undertook initial receiver clearance of the B737 type on the Wedgetail program. At Gulfstream, Ben was the corporate safety manager for complex systems and aircraft lead for avionic and systems certification test on #3 for the G500, G600 and G700. He is currently a test Senior Consultant for Defence.
Vice President - Ms Jamie Smith Jamie is a Senior Flight Test Engineer at Nova Systems. Prior to her move to Australia, she worked as a Developmental Test Engineer at Edwards AFB, CA. At Edwards, she was responsible for all DT&E air-to-air refuelling flight test For the USAF and has experience testing on-board the KC-30, C-17, KC-46, KC-135 and KC-10. Prior to Edwards, she worked at Arnold Air Force Base in wind tunnel ground testing and at Hawker Beechcraft and Piper Aircraft in the new product development teams. She holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering, is a graduate of the USAF TPS Short Course and holds a Cert IV in T&E. Jamie is currently a Project Engineering Manager for Defence, delivering UAS capability to Army.
Secretary - Mr Connor Wilson (pending)
Treasurer - Mr Andrew Fickling Andrew Fickling or 'Flicker', joined the RAAF after finishing school, and completed an Aerospace Engineering degree before going onto pilot training. Operational tours followed on the C-47 at ARDU then P-3 with 92WG. He completed Test Pilot training at NTPS, then returned for multiple flight test postings including serving as Project Test Pilot during the Wedgetail initial military type certification. Flicker left the RAAF for Bombardier in Wichita, Kansas and test flew all Global business jet models for development and certification, becoming a Transport Canada Test Pilot designee. Since 2019 he has been working for Wisk, and is currently the project pilot for development and certification of the Generation 6 autonomous eVTOL air taxi. He is an Associate Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP), and former treasurer and chair of the Central Section of SETP.
Membership Officer - Dane Petersen Dane is a Flight Test Engineer with experience across multiple generations of Air Force capability. He has held senior flight test engineering positions within Aircraft Research and Development Unit, Aerospace System Engineering Squadron and the United States Navy's Project Office for Next Generation Jammer.
Public Officer - Guy Adams Guy is a Flight Test Engineer and currently the Director of Unmanned Aerial Systems for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Previously he was employed as a FTE with the RAAF's Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) and worked on F18 Hornet and Eurocopter Tiger flight test programs. Guy is a past President of FTSA.
General Officer - Mr Andrew Kerle Andrew is a Test Pilot and graduate of the National Test Pilot School. Commencing his flying career flying several variants of the P-3C, he gained extensive operational and combat experience with 10SQN and 92WG Headquarters. Following TPS, Andrew performed a variety of roles at ARDU as a Test Pilot on the AP-3C and KC-30A. He remained at ARDU for 14 years, as the Test Pilot Standards Officer, Executive Officer, Air Warfare Centre MAO Chief of Flight Test and AWC Part 21J Compliance Verification Engineer.
General Officer - Mr Loran Howarth Experienced human factor, engineering research psychologist and engineering test pilot with a demonstrated history of working with the aviation industry and government. Skilled in Military and Civil Aviation, flight and simulation testing, Human Factors, airworthiness and certification, DoD and FAA rule and policy-making, night vision devices, head, and helmet-mounted displays and cockpit/flight deck information displays. Strong research background in Rotary and fixed wing flight test and pilot vehicle interfaces, Former senior FAA Human Factor specialist for transport airplanes, rulemaking, and Naval Test Pilot School graduate. Current SME for NASA and Human Factor consultant.