General

A meeting of the AIAA ADS TC was convened at 1300 on August 17, 2000 in conjunction with the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Symposium. Those in attendance are listed below. Richard Benney chaired the meeting. Scott Dellicker was appointed secretary Pro-tem.

The AIAA has appointed a new business developer for the ADS TC. Mr. Bruno Kisala will replace Mr. Brewster King. Mr. Kisala introduced himself and gave an excellent introduction on his role and responsibilities. As a business developer, he indicated he has three primary goals: 1) enforce the AIAA charter, 2) assist in marketing, and 3) generate revenues. He reviewed several active initiatives that he believed would interest the ADS community. These activities can be found on the AIAA web page.

Mr. Dave Throckmorten, the newly re-elected Aerospace Sciences Group Director within the Technical Activities Committee, provided a brief introduction.

Emily Springer also provided an introduction and provided AIAA TC shirts to all who attended.

The following business topics were discussed:

1. Review of the minutes.

• The meeting minutes from the February 17, 2000 TC meeting were reviewed. Clarification regarding the number of authorized TC members was requested. AIAA authorizes a roster of 35 members on the TC. The ADS roster currently contains 36 total members including international and young members. The latter classifications do not count against the authorized membership of 35.
• Eleanor Aldrich, AIAA, suggested the TC consider ‘honorary’ memberships, which would not count against the TC authorization but would facilitate intermittent participation from additional members of the ADS community.
• Richard Benney asked for ideas for new membership. Carl Peterson, Sandia, was suggested as a possible new member. Richard Benney requested all TC members review and update the address lists for the TC membership.

2. Treasurer's Report.

• The current status of the treasury was reviewed and is posted on the ADS TC web page. It was noted that accounting of the Toulouse Conference is not yet complete due to several outstanding credit card charges.
• With the departure of Sanjay Patel from the TC, there is a void on the financial team. Replacements are greatly needed.

3. Home Page Team:

• Richard Benney reported on the status of the ADS TC home page. Mike Accorsi has made several improvements of the web page. It was noted by Rob Meyerson that the ADS TC web page is far superior to those of other TCs. Kudos to Mike Accorsi!
• All members should review the page and, in particular, review and update their biographies as needed. Updates should be sent directly to Mike. It is desired that the Image Page be improved. Members were solicited to provide electronic images to Mike Accorsi for incorporation onto this page.
• The TC discussed the possible transfer of our web page to the AIAA page. However, it was agreed that based on the superior quality of our web page and the desire to maintain control that the TC would continue with the current web page.

4. Electronic Abstract/Technical Paper System:

• Mr. Steve O’Leary, AIAA, presented an overview of the new web-capable document management system. This system allows the submissions of abstracts and technical papers through the World Wide Web. In addition, it has the capability for reviewing and tracking the status of these documents. It facilitates effective coordination of the technical program for the conferences and will generate the conference program automatically.
• Training is available for all conference team members. Scott Dellicker will send Steve O’Leary a list of this year's conference team and Mr. O’Leary will notify us of training opportunities.

5. Database Team:

• Mo Gionfriddo presented the status of the document database efforts. Linda Hall Library received and begun processing Karl Doherr's shipment of technical documents. Thanks Karl! Natick Soldier Center has converted over 400 paper documents to *.pdf format. Sandia has begun the arduous task of sorting through their parachute library. Mo suggested Sandia look for the Wright-Patterson document database, which may reduce some of the burden of document review.
• It was noted that all agencies/companies should ensure that any documents sent to the library should contain no restrictions for release. It is suggested that before any shipments are made, coordination should be made with Mo or the Linda Hall Library (Nancy Day: dayn@lindahall.org) for suggestions on shipping methods.

6. PIA:

• Mo provided an overview of the current PIA efforts. The next PIA business meeting is at the Town and Country Hotel, San Diego, on 15/16/17 September. It was reported that Mr. Jose Milletti, Natick Soldier Center, would present his assessment of problems and proposed improvements to Natick’s process for approval and deviation of waivers. The PIA annual meeting will be held from 29 January through 2 February 2001 at the same location.
• The Department of Commerce is working with the PIA on a study of the parachute industries viability. DoC is sending surveys to approximately 100 companies. The surveys are required to be returned by law. PIA has reviewed the draft survey and made several recommendations on improvements. DoC will brief the survey policy/procedures at the September PIA business meeting and plans to brief the survey results at the PIA annual meeting in January.
• It was suggested that the survey results be tied to the next AIAA congressional visits day. It was also noted that the DoC favors the Berry Amendment restricting procurement of foreign textiles.

7. Newsletter:

• The team is attempting to publish the next newsletter to coincide with the May 2001 conference. Christine Hailey has received two articles to date. Previous versions of the newsletter can be found on the ADS TC web page. All members were asked to consider submitting articles to Christine.

8. Specs and Standards:

• Elsa Hennings, former team chair, has left the TC. Mike Herr from China Lake was to take her place however; Richard Benney has been unable to contact him. A new chairman of this team is needed.
• As of May 14th, the parachute drawing specification is almost ready for publication. AIAA is managing the publication. Tony Taylor will obtain a status from Jim French, AIAA, on the current status. Mo Gionfriddo will review the Army’s application of this specification to Army development/production programs with Natick Soldier Center.

9. Short Course:

• Richard Benney notified the TC that Bill Garrard no longer desires to head up the short course team. Jean Potvin has expressed interest in leading the team and hosting the next short course at St. Louis University the summer of 2002. The TC agreed that Jean Potvin is an excellent candidate. Jean, through Richard, solicited comments to the 1998 short course agenda.

10. Congressional Visit Days:

• Dr. Phil Hattis (from Draper Labs who sat in on part of the meeting) presented an overview of congressional visits day. 189 people throughout the Aerospace Industry represented AIAA. Phil, Ed Doucette, and Steve Hintzke represented the ADS community. Based on this year’s efforts, AIAA is encouraging members to follow-up with the ‘local’ congressional staffs throughout the year.
• Several people volunteered to represent the community at next year’s conference including Pioneer, Irvin, Natick, and Mo Gionfriddo. Anyone else that desires to attend should contact Richard Benney.
• Rob Meyerson pointed out that the flyer used during the 2000 CVD was too focused on government programs. Glen Brown suggested that the section of the flyer that showed what congress could do for our community was not focused well enough. Dean Jorgenson supported this comment with lessons learned from 1999.
• The “CVD Team” agreed to have a new CVD handout prepared for full ADS TC review at the next meeting in January.

11. Journal of Aircraft:

• Six authors from the Toulouse conference were selected to submit papers for a special edition of the JOA. All six were submitted on time. To date, the majority of the authors have not yet received comments back from the peer review. Scott Dellicker has received comments and is working on a rewrite. There has been no deadline submitted for resubmission.

12. Year in Review:

• Glen Brown has drafted a Year in Review article for Aerospace America. To date, there has been limited input (US Army Natick and Vertigo only). Several suggestions were made on additional topics for the article. Glen requested additional inputs be sent to him as soon as possible as the article is due to AIAA in mid September. Those submitting to the article will be asked to support the final review instead of requesting review from the entire TC.

13. Denver Conference Review:

• Richard Benney and Rob Meyerson reviewed the special session of the Denver AIAA GNC Conference for Aerodynamic Decelerators. The session was very well attended with approximately 45 people of which only about 12-15 were from the ADS community. The briefings were very well received. Rob Meyerson did an excellent job in the coordination of this session. The TC agreed to consider teaming up with this conference (or a similar one) every other year (to not coincide with the ADS conference).

14. 16th ADS Seminar and Conference Update:

• Rob Meyerson presented the technical program for the seminar. This year’s topic is “Advanced Sensor Technology.” The program presents an interesting building block of topics from a description of the challenges of aerodynamic decelerator testing, trajectory reconstruction, advanced MEMS sensors, to smart network technologies. Rob presented a detailed breakdown of each session and solicited input.
• Rob requested input from all on information of “state of the art” instrumentation and sensors used in decelerator systems. This is needed to facilitate development of detailed presentations for the seminar.
• Three excellent speakers have been selected and agreed to present. The ADS TC will pay a $500 honorarium, airfare and lodging (2 nights), and conference registration. All TC members concurred that the program looked outstanding.
• Scott Dellicker presented an update on the status of the conference. The Call for Papers was submitted to the AIAA staff on time and was published in the July 2000 Aerospace America (approximately 2 months late). An initial draft was emailed to all TC members and a final was sent to the TC’s mass email distribution list. It was noted that this list was not up to date. Richard Benney solicited everyone's help to update the list. Everyone should submit updates to Mike Accorsi with the name of the person and their email address. Note: The ADS TC will NOT distribute this list outside of the TC.
• Currently, no more than three abstracts (one electronically and up to two manually) have been submitted. It was agreed that due to the delay in getting the call for papers out, a 30-day extension was warranted. In addition, another email call will be sent to the revised email list and a hard copy mailing will be conducted. TC members agreed that the committee could cover the cost for this mailing. Scott Dellicker agreed to coordinate the mailing as opposed to requesting AIAA assistance due to time availability.
• AIAA signed a contract with the Boston Park Plaza. Room costs are in the neighborhood of $145 per night. Conference fees have not yet been established. The AIAA staff is developing a detailed budget. Bruno will review the status of this effort with AIAA.
• A conference team meeting will be planned for the Boston area for mid- September. All team members will be invited to attend.

15. Miscellaneous:

• Glen Brown was nominated for next year's TC chair. His nomination was unanimously accepted.
• Team Membership: The current membership of the TC’s various teams was reviewed. The Finance Team needs a new lead and additional members. Rob Meyerson volunteered to serve on the team (not in a lead role). Debbie Gardinier and Seungeuk Han also volunteered to serve on the team. The goals of the Awards/Membership Team were reviewed. It was agreed that this team should be staffed with some senior people. Koki Machin, Seungeuk Han and Mark Heflin agreed to help on this team. Rob Meyerson requested he be removed from the Short Course team.
• Discussions on NPTC issues were deferred in hopes of Carl Peterson rejoining the TC and leading this effort.
• The next meeting will be help in Reno, NV in January with the AIAA conference or during the PIA symposium in San Diego during late January. Richard Benney will send out the details, as they are available.

16. Review of Actions:

• All – Provide input to Finance Team on ideas/ways to spend the money currently available in the treasury.
• All – Send Rob Meyerson “state of the art” sensors/instrumentation used in decelerator testing and/or development.
• All – Send Mike Accorsi updates to the email distribution list.
• Bruno Kisala will review the AIAA membership database and provide email addresses for all that selected the Aerodynamic Decelerators as an interest item.
• Scott Dellicker – Send Steve O’Leary, AIAA, a list of conference team members.
• Tony Taylor – Review status of parachute drawing specification with AIAA.
• Mo Gionfriddo – Review Natick’s application of this standard.
• Bruno Kisala will review the status of budget planning for the conference.