On July 31st, the Canadian Chapter hosted its first Flight Test Virtual Happy Hour! After asking chapter members about ways to add value and engage, the majority asked for more technical content and networking.
 

The FT Virtual Happy Hour featured 2 presentations and a meet & greet session.
 

The Variable Stability Aircraft at ITPS, presented by Vincent Clementi, ITPS' deputy head of engineering, where he described briefly their Advanced Handling Qualities Aircraft, a Rutan Long-EZ modified for 2-axis FBW control from the rear seat and the Advanced Controls Evaluator, a FBW L-39 that is in the works and is being designed to have a forward seat with a programmable sidestick, rudder and throttle and will be capable of running advanced models and an embedded tactical training simulation.
 

The second presentation featured Othmane Chahby who is a software engineer at the Canadian Space Agency and coordinates the flight test side of LASSENA - the Laboratory of Space Technologies, Embedded Systems, Navigation and Avionics. He talked about his research in using artificial intelligence to better estimate the gains in a Kalman-style filter, improving position accuracy and resilience to jamming/spoofing.
 

The last third of the hour featured a meet & greet session, where the participants introduced themselves and talked a little bit about their interests and work and a bunch of Q&A to the presenters closed the session.
 

It was a great experience, especially for meeting new people with new ideas!
 

This screenshot shows the Canada Chapter enjoying technical presentations in a virtual space.