A test pilot has to describe behaviour in flight in terms that an engineer can use to diagnose the problem. Flying skill alone does not supply that technical language. A recollection tentatively associated with Eric Brown distinguishes ordinary English, flying terminology and engineering language. Historians face a similar translation problem when government papers, engineering records and naval memoirs use the same words differently. Britain also faced limits on transferring specialists from naval artillery to land artillery work.
Notable Point · 1:04:24-1:06:13
What test pilots and historians have to translate
A test pilot's need to explain what happened in flight illustrates why technical skills and the language to convey them must come together.