Test pilot

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the cocktail, see
Test Pilot (cocktail).
For the film, see Test Pilot (film)
.
Léon Lemartin, the world's first professional test pilot,[1] under contract to Louis Blériot in c. 1910
blind flying
Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1, first test pilot to break the sound barrier at Mach 1 in 1947
Neil Armstrong and the North American X-15 after a research test flight in 1960

A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.[2]

History

Test flying as a systematic activity started during the First World War, at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) in the United Kingdom. An "Experimental Flight" was formed at the Central Flying School. During the 1920s, test flying was further developed by the RAE in the UK, and by the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. During these years, as work was done into aircraft stability and handling qualities, test flying evolved towards a more qualitative scientific profession. In the 1950s, test pilots were being killed at the rate of about one a week,[citation needed] but the risks have shrunk to a fraction of that because of the maturation of aircraft technology, better ground-testing and simulation of aircraft performance, fly-by-wire technology and, lately, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles
to test experimental aircraft features. Still, piloting experimental aircraft remains more dangerous than most other types of flying.

At the insistence of President

astronauts, the Mercury Seven
, were all military test pilots, as were some of the later astronauts.

The world's oldest test pilot school is what is now called the

Zhukovsky within the Gromov Flight Research Institute
.

Qualifications

  • Understand a test plan
  • Stick to a test plan by flying a plane in a highly specific way
  • Carefully document the results of each test
  • Have an excellent feel for the aircraft and sense exactly how it is behaving oddly if it is doing so
  • Solve problems quickly if anything goes wrong with the aircraft during a test
  • Cope with many different things going wrong at once
  • Effectively communicate flight test observations to engineers and relate engineering results to the pilot community, thus bridging the gap between those who design and build aircraft with those who employ the aircraft to accomplish a mission
  • Have an excellent knowledge of
    aeronautical engineering
    to understand how and why planes are tested.
  • Be above-average pilots with excellent
    analytical skills
    and the ability to fly accurately while they follow a flight plan.

Test pilots can be experimental and engineering test pilots (investigating the characteristics of new types of aircraft during development) or production test pilots (the more mundane role of confirming the characteristics of new aircraft as they come off the production line). Many test pilots would perform both roles during their careers. Modern test pilots often receive formal training from highly-selective military test pilot schools, but other test pilots receive training and experience from civilian institutions and/or manufacturers' test pilot development programs (see list of test pilot schools).

Notable test pilots (partial list)

Main page: Category:Test pilots

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Léon Lemartin (Ai. 1899)
  2. ^ Stinton, Darrol. Flying Qualities and Flight Testing of the Airplane. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., 1996, p. 265
  3. ^ Знаменская, Наталья, ed. (2002). ШЛИ со временем [ShLI in Time] (in Russian) (2 ed.). Жуковский: ООО "Редакция газеты "Жуковские вести". p. 400.

Bibliography

External links
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