Daedalus Aero.Space

Jessica “STING” Peterson has over 18 years of experience in Flight Test Engineering on fighter, bomber, trainer, and unmanned aircraft. She is a graduate of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) and has logged over 500 hours in 40+ aircraft types as a Flight Test Engineer, primarily in the T-38, F-16, and C-12 aircraft. She is currently a Ph.D. student and Research Assistant for the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Nevada Reno, primarily interested in autonomy, human-machine teaming, and flight controls. Prior to returning to graduate school, she worked as a DoD Civil Service employee for the United States Air Force (USAF) in flight test for 18 years, conducting flight test on fighter, bomber, and unmanned aircraft. Her most recent position with the USAF was as the Technical Director for the 412th Operations Group and as an Instructor Flight Test Engineer for the US Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) at Edwards Air Force Base. As an instructor at USAF TPS, she instructed hundreds of flight test and space test professionals and advised on numerous research projects. She holds both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the Naval Postgraduate School, respectively, and a Master's degree in Flight Test Engineering from USAF TPS. The highlight of her career was to shake the hand of a pilot whose life was saved by a system she helped develop and test, the F-16 Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) -- a system that has saved 13 military pilots' lives to date.

David Kern is a graduate of the US Air Force Test Pilot School, with experience planning and flying hundreds of flight test missions for civil aircraft certification and military projects. He is an Associate Fellow with the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and Member of the Society of Flight Test Engineers. In his USAF career, he was the USAF F-16 project test pilot for the Collier Trophy-winning Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (AGCAS) and served as Instructor Test Pilot and Director of Operations at the USAF Test Pilot School, teaching all parts of the multi-engine and fighter curricula. In civil flight test, he served as a flight test pilot for the Aircraft Certification Service with the Federal Aviation Administration, and is currently a Flight Test Captain for a major airline. He holds a Master of Science in Flight Test Engineering and B.Sci. Electrical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics. He also holds an Airline Transport Pilot certificate with nine type ratings, is an active Certified Flight Instructor for instrument conditions, and has logged piloting time at the flight controls of over 80 different types of aircraft. His publications include "Flight Test Techniques for Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar", "Accelerated Development of Flight Tested Sensors and Systems", and “Introduction to Fly-by-Wire Flight Control Systems: The professional pilot’s guide to understanding modern aircraft controls.”

Nathan Cook is a graduate of the US Air Force Test Pilot School, with experience planning, flying, and directing hundreds of flight test missions for military projects from the cockpit and the control room. From 2011 to 2013, he served at the US Air Force Test Pilot School as airborne and control room Instructor Flight Test Engineer, Flying Qualities Branch Chief, Test Conductor Standards and Evaluation, Unit Test Safety Officer, and Certified Flight Instructor Glider Pilot qualified in all glider curriculum rides including spin training. From 2013 to 2015, he was the lead flight test engineer for all USAF F-16 mission systems software flight test. He has served as the Chief Test Engineer for a fighter flight test squadron, responsible for all technical and safety aspects of projects across multiple fighter types and systems, as well as control room training and evaluation. Nathan is a Senior Member of the Society of Flight Test Engineers, and currently serves as the Chief Data Officer at the group level, bringing modern tools and techniques to the test mission. He holds a Masters degrees in Education, Mechanical Engineering, Flight Test Engineering, and Analytics, and a B.Sci. Physics with a concentration in German. He also holds Private Pilot - Single Engine Land and Commercial - Glider certificates, is a Certified Flight Instructor - Glider, and has logged time in over 30 different types of aircraft. His publications include "Flight Test Brevity," "Data Hackathons: Jumpstarting Your Test Organization's Digital Transformation," “A Blank Slate: Redefining F-16 Flight Test,” and "Lessons Learned During Development of a Hands-On Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flight Test and Evaluation Training Course."

Dr. Chris Salvino is a graduate of the National Test Pilot School and brings a wealth of experience in aviation, medicine, and engineering. As a former US Air Force Flight Surgeon and currently a practicing trauma/critical care surgeon, his aerospace and medical experience includes serving as State Air Surgeon for Indiana and an F-16 flight surgeon for the Air National Guard. His military service includes deployments to Antarctica and participation in the Air Force Top Knife Program. Dr. Salvino's aerospace experience extends far beyond the military; he founded an FAA Part 135 EMS air ambulance program (rotor and fixed wing) and has extensive experience as an Aviation Medical Examiner. He's a seasoned lecturer on aerospace medicine and altitude physiology. He has completed aerobatic, instrument, multi-engine and commercial pilot certificates including Learjet Part 135 initial and L-39 ground and refresher schools. He served as a Part 135 Learjet pilot flying both medical as well as business clients and has logged time at the flight controls of over 16 different aircraft. Academically, Dr. Salvino holds impressive credentials: a Doctor of Medicine degree, two undergraduate degrees in biology and mechanical engineering, and six master's degrees spanning space studies, flight test technology, aerospace medicine, planetary geology, engineering mining, and aerospace engineering. He's currently pursuing a Ph.D. in engineering mining, focusing on lunar Helium-3 extraction to fuel future Earth based fusion reactors.

Mr. McWhorter has been involved in the design, development, production and marketing of a variety of microwave components and digital communication systems for over 35 years. He holds a BSEE Degree from the University of South Florida and has authored several papers on microwave components and communication system applications. Mr. McWhorter previously held the position of Technical Director at Honeywell Space Systems, Clearwater, FL where he was involved in the design, development, and mission operations of ground based mobile Range Safety and Telemetry Systems for launch vehicle flight test applications in Kodiak, Alaska. Currently, he is VP of Sales and Marketing for Lumistar, Inc. He has written many articles over the years for publications like RF Design Magazine, Microwave Journal, Microwaves and RF, and Aerospace International Test. Besides teaching the fundamentals of telemetry since 2004, Mark is also an experienced musician, plays several instruments and has been a “front man” for several classic rock bands over the years since childhood.