Please note audio does not start until 00:00:47 due to technical issues with the recording

Watch the recording of the Farnborough Branch's lecture, which was given on 16 January 2024 by Rod Sears.

Rod Sears shares his wealth of experience as an international test pilot having flown with the UK ETPS (Hunter, Lightning, Jaguar, BAC 1-ll, Andover and many more), French Test Pilot School, EPNER (Airbus, G222, Fouga Magister, Alpha Jet, Mirage 3, Mirage 2000, Nord 262) and exchange with the USAF Test squadron (F15E upgrade). His ejection from a Hunter Aircraft on the runway at Farnborough is one of the successes that he will divulge plus some failures that operational research challenges inevitably result in.

Rod Sears joined the RAF at RAFC Cranwell in 1966 and served on 19 Squadron flying Lightnings then onto 54, 111 and 23 Squadrons at RAF Coningsby and Leuchars flying Phantoms. He graduated from the EPNER where he flew all the European fighter jets before moving to RAE at Farnborough where he was involved in R&D on Stingray torpedo release, introduction of NVG procedures and FBW design on the Jaguar aircraft. He had an USAF exchange position as a Programme Manager for the F15E PW100 -220 engine upgrade. Also, he was instrumental in the initial flight tests of the Air Launched Cruise Missile. He then returned to the UK to take up a position as a Tutor at ETPS.

When he left the RAF, he moved across to the civilian domain as Captain on Boeing 757 and 767 with British Airways and was the Simulator Technical Manager. He went on to do research work at Cranfield University where he researched HF in Business Jets and gained a MPhil.

He is currently a research fellow at Coventry University where he is researching blind Taxi guidance on a HUD and related Human Factors.