LANCASTER, Calif. — When Jessica “STING” Peterson took the stage at Antelope Valley College the morning of Oct. 5, 2022, she commanded the attention of the 250 high school and college students, many of whom imagined themselves filling a flight suit or a lab coat.
Peterson was, like them, a local kid who went to Quartz Hill Elementary, Joe Walker Middle School and Quartz Hill High, and never dreamed back then of becoming a flight test engineer who flew at twice the speed of sound and at altitudes 9.5 miles above ground level.
Now Technical Director of the 412th Operations Group at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and Flight Test Engineer Instructor at the USAF Test Pilot School, she delivered a gripping narrative about her life’s journey and the fulfillment that comes from developing new technologies that save the lives of pilots, aircrews and passengers.
She described in detail the challenges and risks faced by team members with whom she worked in developing and conducting the flight testing of two computer systems at Edward. One, the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (GCAS), was designed to prevent an aircraft from crashing to the ground when the pilot is unconscious. The other, the Automatic Collision Avoidance Technology (ACAT) is designed to prevent midair collisions between military aircraft.
Reminding the audience of her talk’s title, “Flight Test Engineering and Saving Lives, Peterson reported that since the ground avoidance system was installed in the F-16 fighter aircraft, lives of the pilots and their aircraft were saved, and newer fighters, including the F-22 and F-35 have the systems designed-in. She personally knows of a dozen fighter pilots who are alive and well today because the ground avoidance system worked.
The challenge in testing, she said, comes with fundamental rules that the systems must do no harm to the pilot, don’t interfere with the pilot doing the job, and still prevent a collision. Added to those rules are processes to be avoided, among them what flight test pilots call, “The Mad Scientist.” In other words, don’t trust the system to be flawless.
And then there’s the need for patience. She said, for example, it took two years of testing to plan for a five-second maneuvering window of opportunity to save the pilot and the plane. In another instance, the automatic system gives a stricken pilot a vital extra three seconds to survive what was previously fatal.
Ending her presentation, “Sting” opened to question, and the audience complied, seeing the personal side of their new role model.
No, she didn’t start out to be an engineer. She first thought of becoming a patents attorney, but an internship in a law office changed her mind. She was drawn to mechanical engineering, got a BS degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a MS degree from the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey.
She’s a civilian employee of the Defense Department, and wasn’t in the Air Force. Her first flight was in 2014, “and I was airsick.” She later learned to fly in civil aviation and underwent Air Force Altitude Chamber and Ejection Seat training to qualify for backseat flight engineer duties in more than 40 aircraft types. She loves to fly and no longer gets airsick.
Weather permitting, she’ll be in the back seat of a T-38 trainer in a special Antelope Valley Salute to STEM Education scheduled for Oct. 12 [ STEM flyover is coming to Greater AV as part of Edwards Air Show ñ please make this a hyperlink to Air Show Flyover Story].
Students and older folks who still have questions for Jessica “STING” Peterson can find her in the STEM exhibition inside Hangar 1600 at Edwards.