Minutes of a Meeting of the
AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems
Technical Committee
18 May 1995
Clearwater Beach, Florida
The meeting was called to order by incoming chairman, Dean Jorgensen, at
5:00 p.m., coinciding with the conclusion of the 13th ADS Technology
Conference. A list of those in attendance is appended (Bottom of page).
Recognition of Outgoing Chairman
Dr. Jorgensen began by recognizing outgoing TC chairman, Robert "Buff"
Underwood. He thanked Mr. Underwood for his two year stewardship of the
committee and noted that through his leadership, the TC has reexamined and
updated its goals and objectives, established a basic plan for establishing a
parachute database, and developed an income stream to allow us to pursue some
of our more adventurous goals. He was further credited with fostering the
development of the ADS Technology Seminar, now recognized as the standard
for "teaching old dogs new tricks." The TC joined in thanking Buff and wishing
him a pleasant year off!
13th ADS Technology Conference and Seminar Conference
The main purpose of the meeting was to allow TC members the opportunity to
comment on the recently concluded seminar and conference while memories were
still fresh. There was strong and unanimous agreement that the seminar and
conference were unqualified successes due to the outstanding effort of general
chairman Vance Behr and deputy chairmen Bob Underwood, Gary Thibault, Bill
Wailes and Jean-François Vergnolle. There were 161 registered delegates
from 14 countries - a resounding endorsement of the conference in these
economically challenging times. The following comments were provided so that
future conference organizers will be able to maintain the same high standards.
2nd ADS Technology Seminar
The choice of topics - precision aerial delivery - was excellent, and clearly
contributed to the strong attendance. At 104, attendance was nearly double the
number anticipated. Selection of a relevant topic is therefore crucial to the
success of the 3rd seminar in 1997. Both lecturers gave strong presentations.
The timing was good and the handouts were adequate.
Comments:
1) A two-part seminar with two distinguished speakers works well;
2) The timing of lectures and breaks was good - if anything, the two
sessions might be stretched slightly to permit an additional break during each;
3) Future speakers should be encouraged to devote a significant portion of
their lectures to examples of practical implementations of their particular
specialization - an understanding of the philosophy behind their discipline
is important but ought not detract from the "meat" of their subject, given
the limits of time;
4) The two lecturers MUST meet during the planning stages (as was the case
this time) - exchange of ideas proved invaluable in developing a cohesive
day-long lecture series;
5) Thorough and well produced handouts are a MUST (as was the case this
time) - seminar delegates expect them and they become a valuable resource
document.
Conference General Session
The format - selecting six top-flight papers of general interest from all
those submitted - worked well. It was deemed particularly useful to include
a graduate student paper in the session. In other words, it ain't broke, so
don't fix it.
Conference Joint Sessions
Again, our tried-and-true format worked well. Comments:
1) If a speaker is more than three minutes late for his presentation, postpone
that presentation to an open slot later in the conference - don't try to
juggle papers within a session "on the fly." Delegates might then miss a
paper they had counted on seeing;
2) Try to schedule papers from China at the very end of a session -
Chinese delegates have consistently had difficulty in obtaining requisite
travel permission. [And despite Karl Doherr's admonition that any session
chairman worth his salt should present a paper for a speaker who is unable to
attend, it probably goes above and beyond the call of duty for the session
chairman to actually write the paper as well as present it.]
Conference Administration
General comments in no particular order:
1) After much discussion, it was agreed that a one-day seminar on Monday,
followed by a full three-day conference remains the best schedule compromise,
allowing the prior weekend for last minute preparations and the following
Friday for a post-conference tour or travel.
2) Future technical and administrative chairmen should either insist
that overseas authors bring videos in NTSC format or make arrangements for
multiple-standard VCRs.
3) Full breakfast at the speakers' briefing was a big hit.
4) Technical chairmen should increase the number of copies to be brought
by those speakers whose papers didn't make the bound proceedings to ensure that
EVERYBODY gets a copy of all the loose papers.
5) Consider having future proceedings printed with color artwork.
6) Consider moving up the deadlines for abstracts and final papers (by maybe
two months and two weeks, respectively) in an effort to increase the
percentage of papers which make it into the bound proceedings.
7) Consider reverting to co-technical chairmen and reinstating
TC review of abstracts to assure that we don't lose the ground gained over
the past few years in improving the quality of accepted papers.
8) Make sure that the materials for the first Call for Papers mailing get
to the international chairman as early as possible.
9) Take a Polaroid camera to all future conferences.
10) Make sure to have a back-up speaker for the Awards Banquet. [For
further amplification, see Dr. Behr, recipient of the first annual Dr.
Holland Ford Memorial "Chestnuts" Award.] A good place to look is
among the people who approach the technical chairman at the last minute with
the offer of a fill-in presentation.
Conference Activities
More comments:
1) The industry sponsored luau was a great success. [See
"Conference General Session" regarding the need to fix what ain't broke.]
2) Holding the Awards Banquet in the evening was deemed an excellent idea all
around. Not only was the pace more relaxed, but the Wednesday afternoon
speakers were spared the annoyance of having to present to a half empty
auditorium.
3) Perhaps the Tuesday spouses' breakfast could be held later in
the morning to accommodate those who cannot register before Tuesday.
4) It was agreed that a post-conference tour is not mandatory. Recent
experience suggests that tours are well subscribed if they involve a
compelling site not otherwise accessible to the general public (e.g., the
parachute refurbishment facility at KSFC and GQ Parachutes in Wales).
Collocating with the Lighter-than-Air Conference
Meeting with the Lighter-than-Air Conference appears to have many advantages
and no drawbacks. It affords the AIAA greater leverage (economy of scale) in
dealing with hotels, which ultimately helps hold costs down. There were
delegates from both conferences who "crossed over" and there were a few LTA
delegates who attended the seminar. In this vein, Dr. Jorgensen agreed to
invite the Balloon TC to consider collocating with us at our 1997 conference.
AIAA Support Staff
Finally, the TC reiterated its appreciation for the thorough, courteous and
highly professional work of our AIAA on-site support staff, Karl Bradshaw,
Meetings Manager, and Erin Harty, Technical Papers Manager. Dr. Behr offered
to formally commend them to their management at AIAA Headquarters.
TC Organization
Members retiring after three or more consecutive years of service include
Vance Behr, Glen Brown, Calvin Lee, Robert Underwood, Bill Wailes, Loren
Seely, Dean Wolf and Gary Thibault. The chairman offered his thanks on behalf
of the TC for the outstanding support they have provided. In addition, the
chairman agreed to contact William Stone and Jared Smith to determine if
their schedules and corporate support would permit them to accept appointment
to a third year on the TC. Karl Doherr and Joe Holder, each having served three
years, nonetheless requested reappointment to the committee. Invoking the
"Lingard" rule, the chairman granted their request. Miguel Lopez would like
to remain on the TC despite four consecutive years of service and is reviewing
his position with AFFTC.
The following individuals have indicated a willingness to serve on the committee
and, if they haven't done so, are currently seeking organizational support:
Mr. Roger Allen, SSE Inc.; Mr. Richard Benney, US Army Natick RD&E Center;
Mr. Werner Gabriel, DLR; Dr. Christine Hailey, Utah State University; Capt.
Scott Hamilton, Wright-Patterson AFB; Mr. David Hirst, GQ Parachutes Ltd;
Mr. Andrew Mawn, US Army Natick RD&E Center; Prof. Jean Potvin, Parks College;
and Mr. Don Waye, Sandia National Labs. Membership provisionally stands at 25
(see attached list). The AIAA permits 35 voting members on its TCs. All current
members are strongly urged to identify and nominate qualified candidates for
TC membership. New members may be brought on at any time.
The TC will be organized into self-directed task teams, each with its own
team leader. Tasks will be goal-oriented, TC-approved activities. Each team
will be responsible for setting project milestones, schedules and budgets,
and will report to the TC at regular intervals. To the extent possible,
standing committees will be dispensed with. Don Waye has agreed to serve as
TC vice-chairman to assist the chairman with administrative and standing
obligations (e.g., honors and awards). Chris Carlson has agreed to serve as
treasurer. The job of reporting secretary will rotate on an as yet to be
determined (but probably punitive) basis.
Future Activities
With tempus fugitting, discussion of future TC tasks was tabled. The chairman
and vice-chairman agreed to expand upon Dr. Jorgensen's September, 1994, white
paper on TC goals and prepare a strawman plan for submittal to TC members by
early summer.
Next Meeting
The next TC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 19 September, 8:00 a.m., at
Textron Defense Systems, Wilmington, Massachusetts. [The National Parachute
Technology Council has accepted an invitation to hold its next meeting at this
site on the following day. Dr. Carl Peterson, chairman, extends an invitation
to all TC members to attend.]
The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Dean S. Jorgensen
Secretary pro tem
TC Meeting Attendance
18 May 1995
Clearwater Beach, Florida
Dean Jorgensen
Andrew Mawn
Don Waye
Jim Strickland
Chris Carlson
Greg Nash
David Aguilar
Calvin Lee (Outgoing)
Loren Seely (Outgoing)
Cal Kato
George Barnard
Glen Brown (Outgoing)
Ed Fallon
Karl Doherr
Steve Lingard
Dave Hirst
Jean-F. Vergnolle
Gary Thibault (Outgoing)
Jean Potvin
Scott Hamilton
Carl Peterson (Chairman, NPTC)
Bill Wailes (Outgoing)
Vance Behr (Outgoing)
Dick Ericksen
Buff Underwood (Outgoing)
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