Civilian Test Pilot Career Path Question

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Diego Salvatierra

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Diego5614
Hey everyone!

I am an engineering student and an instrument-rated pilot looking to get my commercial. I am pursuing a career in the civilian test pilot field and I would love to hear any advice you guys may have for someone like myself. What can I do to stand out among the many people interested in this career field? Do you guys know of any test pilots in the South Florida area?

I am extremely passionate about engineering (I started an aerospace organization at my University where we are currently building a CubeSat satellite) but I also LOVE flying. I hope that the test pilot route will combine my two passions together!

Again, any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Don’t think we’ve got any POA guys that have attended the NTPS. Outside of joining the military and going to the AF / Navy test pilot courses, I’d write these guys and get some advice.

https://www.wasabiaero.com/
 
Having a strong engineering background will help immensely. Understanding the theory of what you want to test as well as test techniques and analysis will make you stand out. Fly a *lot*. Fly unusual stuff. Fly challenging stuff. Fly well and don't flinch. Most (probably *all*) of the self-starting test pilots I know started as engineers for an aerospace company (usually a small one) and found a test pilot role in the same company after establishing some credibility and technical chops. Quite a few of these did so without attending a formal test pilot school. Flight test engineers, if the company has them, often have a distinct advantage when competing for test pilot positions as compared to other candidates not already test pilots.

There are two civilian test pilot schools in North America, National TPS in Mojave, CA and International TPS in London, Ontario. I'm sure there have been self-funded graduates but everyone I know who attended the full course was sponsored by, sent by, and paid by some outside organization like their employer or their country's military or civil aviation authority. If you hit the lottery, give them a call. Otherwise you're probably better off working up from the inside.

Finally, remember that for every hour of super-hot envelope expansion flight test there will be ten of soul-sucking boredom in the W/delta box, or antenna patterns, or source error correction profiles. The experienced engineer/pilot will learn to embrace that boredom ;)

Good luck and keep us posted!

Nauga,
carpe gouge
 
I agree with verifying the cost of civilian test pilot school. I was looking not too long ago at it was in excess of $500,000. Obviously becoming a master of several airframes means a lot of flying in expensive to operate aircraft, which you are paying for. Maybe it is ok if you are independently wealthy.

In the real world it seems all test pilots are ex mil, engineering grads from a service academy and sent to test pilot school paid by Uncle Sam. Because they also fly high performance aircraft with extreme flight envelopes for a living, sometimes in combat. Us civilians learn on piston aircraft which don't offer the same deep experience of the "yank N bank".
 
Geosync said:
In the real world it seems all test pilots are ex mil, engineering grads from a service academy and sent to test pilot school paid by Uncle Sam.
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The majority *may* be ex mil and graduates of a military TPS, but I can name quite a few who are neither. An engineering degree is more helpful than a service academy degree, but the networks for service academy grads are much better. It's a difficult path, even as a military pilot, but it's not hopeless, even as a civilian.

Nauga,
drinking from a firehose
 
Velocity173 said:
I’d write these guys and get some advice.

https://www.wasabiaero.com/
Click to expand...

Geosync said:
I agree with verifying the cost of civilian test pilot school. I was looking not too long ago at it was in excess of $500,000. Obviously becoming a master of several airframes means a lot of flying in expensive to operate aircraft, which you are paying for. Maybe it is ok if you are independently wealthy.
Click to expand...

Wasabi Aero (Elliot Seguin) is on Linkedin (and I assume all the other social media channels). He's posted a lot of interesting videos, and I seem to recall one several months ago that talked about the different paths to a career in flight test (to include military and civilian).

It's not surprising that the full-up course at the National Test Pilot's School would be 500k, but I seem to recall they had a lot of short-courses and other options that were more manageable.

I'm certainly no expert, but I think if I wanted to pursue a career in flight test, I'd start out by building a kit plane.
 
fasteddie said:
I'm certainly no expert, but I think if I wanted to pursue a career in flight test, I'd start out by building a kit plane.
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I'd invest roughly the same amount of time and get an engineering degree. In my experience, the degree is pretty much a requirement to have any kind of a shot at the jobs, building a homebuilt can ice it but rarely (not 'never') without the degree.

Nauga,
and thems that has
 
Diego or anyone who stumbles on this thread,

I don’t know Nauga from a hole in the sky, except for POA. We share an educational background and an experimental airframe ownership experience. He likes cool fringe music and relevantly appends every post he makes (which I foolishly thought I could mimic at one point).

JMHO, you would be well served to listen to his credible words of wisdom on this particular subject.
 
nauga said:
I'd invest roughly the same amount of time and get an engineering degree. In my experience, the degree is pretty much a requirement to have any kind of a shot at the jobs, building a homebuilt can ice it but rarely (not 'never') without the degree.

Nauga,
and thems that has
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My undergraduate degree took slightly less time and significantly less money than my kit plane. Granted, neither of my majors was aeronautical engineering, but I think this advice nails the bang-for-buck ratio. I also think time spent flying more types of planes would be more valuable than time spent building one type of plane when it comes to test flying other types of planes.
 
Old friend of mine lasted like all of 2 months at USNTPS. I was wondering how he even got picked up with no math / engineering degree. Got a free F-18 ride and went supersonic before they gave him the boot though. :D
 
There is a route for civilian engineers to go to get to USAFTPS or USNTPS. First get an engineering or physics degree. Then you will need to get a job as a Flight Test Engineer (Civil Service only, contractors won't be eligible) at either NAWCAD (Pax River), NAWCWD (China Lake and Pt Mugu) or somewhere at Edwards AFB. Work your butt off to be noticed by leadership and then go through the competitive selection process for the very few civilian billets that exist for each TPS class. Not an easy or simple process, but it can happen.
 
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iAlex said:
Not an easy or simple process, but it can happen.
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Indeed it can.;) It's been years, but it used to be fairly easy when screening new-hire candidates to see who was sincerely interested in the role and who was applying just for potential selected passenger or TPS opportunities. It's not hard to figure out which one was more likely to succeed.

Nauga,
who is not above shameless self-promotion
 
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Brad Z said:
Here's the National test pilot school price list...have your credit card handy...
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I know quite a few people who attended National...but I don't know a single one who paid their own way. One of the short courses would probably be a better way to test the waters and improve your qualifications in hopes of getting hired by someone who would sponsor you for the full course.

Nauga,
putting the 'fun' back in 'funding'
 
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