A two-week short course on “Fixed Wing Stability and Control Flight Testing” is scheduled for June 6-17 at The University of Tennessee Space Institute.

Ralph D. Kimberlin, who authored a book on flight testing of fixed-wing aircraft, says the subject will be covered “from both a theoretical and experimental viewpoint with active student participation in the flight experiments.”

Morning sessions will be devoted to flying and data reduction with seven flights to be scheduled for all students. Lectures on theory and flight-testing methods are planned for afternoon sessions.

“The theoretical background necessary to understand, perform, and analyze the flight experiments will be developed in the lectures,” said Kimberlin, himself a former test pilot who had to bale out of two airplanes. He is one of the course directors and one of four lecturers. An Alumni Distinguished Service Professor, Kimberlin chairs the Aviation Systems Graduate Program at UTSI.

This course is part of the Institute’s Aerospace Program and involves the use of an instrumented Piper Navajo, a Piper Saratoga, and a Cessna 150. Peter Solies, associate professor of Aviation Systems, and Richard Ranaudo, research assistant professor of Aviation Systems, along with William Kershner, author and aviation consultant from Sewanee, will join Kimberlin as lecturers.

A registration fee of $3499 includes all necessary supplies. Becky Stines, director of continuing education at UTSI, may be contacted at The University of Tennessee Space Institute, MS 15, B.H. Goethert Parkway, Tullahoma, Tenn., 37388-9700. Her phone number is (931) 393-7276, Fax (931) 393-7327.

The course is designed for engineers to acquire an overall knowledge of the current status of stability and control flight testing, flight test engineers and engineering test pilots to “refresh and update” their knowledge of the subject, and to help technical managers gain knowledge of flight test techniques and problems.

Kimberlin, who wrote “Flight Testing of Fixed-Wing Aircraft” as a textbook and reference “for folks in the aviation industry so they won’t have to invent the wheel,” hopes students of the course will gain insight into potential problems they may face as aviators.