Award-winning AF officer heading to test pilot school

  • Published
  • By Shawn Jacobs
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  It's up, up and away for Capt. Scott Rinella.

Captain Rinella, who is a jet engine test project manager and assistant director of operations in Arnold Engineering Development Center's (AEDC) Turbine Engine Ground Test Complex (TSTB), will be leaving this summer for test pilot school at Edwards AFB, Calif. He was also recently honored as the Air Force Materiel Command's (AFMC) nominee for "Military Tester of the Year" for the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) awards.

"I'm going to leave probably the beginning of June time frame," Captain Rinella said. "Class starts up right after the Fourth of July holiday."

He said the school will last for almost one year. Since he will be a flight test engineer, he will not actually be learning to pilot an aircraft.

"There are two groups of people who go to test pilot school: the rated flyers (pilots navigators, combat system operators) who fly the aircraft or work systems and the flight test engineers (FTEs) who focus on the test planning and pulling the test together," Captain Rinella said.

"The pilots will fly the aircraft maneuvers or flight profiles developed during test planning and we make sure the data is sufficient to prove or meet the objectives of the test. I'm sure I'll learn a lot more when I get there, but that's the way I understand it right now."
Captain Rinella, a native of Warrensburg, Mo., has a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and a Master of Science in engineering and technology management from Oklahoma State University, said test pilot school is the next logical step in his career and he is pleased to have been selected.

"If I want to stay in the test community, it's the ideal route because it will provide a breadth of experience across the test community disciplines. As I advance in my career, it will help to understand the entire realm of testing."

Becoming an FTE, however, will also require his transfer from AEDC.

"I'll find out where I will be performing test functions toward the end of school, which finishes in June 2012," he said. "I might be staying at Edwards or going to another Air Force base that has flight testing."

Lt. Col. Brent Peavy, director of the Turbine Engine Ground Test Complex, said Captain Rinella has done "great things" at AEDC.

"It was no accident that he was picked out of all the competition as AFMC's nominee for such a prestigious award [NDIA's Military Tester of the Year]," he said. "For 11 months he stepped up to fill in as the director of operations for the organization. During just that time, he oversaw 12 test programs totaling $69 million and exceeding 3,800 test hours.

"It has been on his shoulders to deconflict several critical facilities outages/upgrades, which involves hitting the mark on a series of moving targets that include multiple test schedules, maintenance and investments requirements. He also directed AEDC's longest test to date, an F-15 engine test that lasted 11 months, ran for more than 2,000 hours and put the equivalent of more than 15 years of wear on the engine."
Being a mechanical engineer by profession, Captain Rinella had nothing but praise for his tenure at AEDC.

"The work load, the location, everything is great," he said. "Tennessee is a great state. I wouldn't mind coming back here at one point in time.

"The turbine engine ground testing we perform is important and makes a big difference. Until people have been exposed to AEDC, they don't realize the upfront testing and work that goes on in fielding engines. When engines go to flight test or are fielded at the unit level, they are just expected to perform as advertised."

Lt. Col. Ancie Dotson said, in his relatively brief time at AEDC, he has gained much respect for Captain Rinella.

"He's [Captain Rinella] been a great help to me since I arrived in November and took over the operations officer job, and Scott found out soon after that he was selected for test pilot school," Colonel Dotson said. "He's been doing a great job here. He filled in a lot when senior leadership was out of pocket. He was pulling the weight as the ops officer and also the senior military member in the branch for quite a while and did a great job.

"He brought me up to speed and showed me how this place works. This is a unique place for the Air Force. We're happy for him - sad to see him go - but it's the right thing for the Air Force. They picked a great officer for test pilot school and to lead testing into the future."

More important than the past is the achievement and opportunity test pilot school will be for Rinella, according to Colonel Peavy.

"Combined with his previous depth of experience in engineering and flight line ops, he leaves AEDC with extensive knowledge of test and evaluation," he said. "Test pilot school will bring together what he learned in his career thus far and open the door for great new opportunities."

A Missouri native, Captain Rinella has been at AEDC since January 2009.

Captain Jeff Hartberger, who recently returned from a deployment to the Horn of Africa, will join TSTB from the Technology Branch and will assume Captain Rinella's current position, according to Colonel Peavy.