United States Naval Test Pilot School
| United States Naval Test Pilot School | |
|---|---|
test pilot school | |
| Role | Training of test pilots and flight test engineers |
| Part of | Naval Air Warfare Center |
| Home station | Naval Air Station Patuxent River |
| Nickname(s) | USNTPS |
The United States Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS), located at
History
The school was established in 1945, when the Navy's Flight Test Group transferred from
USNTPS is the primary test pilot school for U.S. Army aviators, as it is the only U.S. military test pilot school to offer instruction on rotary-wing aircraft. They also operate an exchange program with the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School located at Edwards Air Force Base. Class 1 graduated December 21, 1948. In 1957 the school's name was officially changed to the United States Naval Test Pilot School.
Milestones:[2]
- Rotary Wing Syllabus introduced in 1961
- 11 month syllabus established in 1973
- Airborne Systems Syllabus introduced in 1975
- Short Course Department organised in 1997
Training
The selection process is highly competitive, and applicants are chosen by a selection board. The curriculum accommodates three main specialities with two classes annually (11 months in duration):
- fixed wing (pilot/engineer)
- rotary wing (pilot/engineer)
- airborne systems (Naval flight officer/engineer)
Training program includes:[2]
- pre-arrival flight training in , AZ)
- 530 academic hours
- 100 sorties/120 flight hours
- about 25 technical reports
Instructional flow is traditional theory to practice: classroom, lab and simulation, exercise briefing and flight demonstration, later data flights with technical reports preparation, review/debrief/critique.[2]
Aircraft used by the United States Naval Test Pilot School include the
Notable alumni
Those include (by year/class of graduation):
- Edward "Whitey" Feightner (1949, Class 2)
- George Chamberlain Duncan (1949, Class 3)
- Alan Shepard (1951, Class 5)
- John Glenn (1954, Class 12)
- Thomas B. Hayward (1954, Class 12)
- James Bond Stockdale(1954, Class 12)
- Scott Carpenter (1954, Class 13)
- Richard Gordon(Class 19)
- Jim Lovell (1958, Class 20)
- Wally Schirra (1958, Class 20)
- Pete Conrad (1958, Class 20)
- John Young (1959, Class 23)
- Alan Bean (Class 26)
- Richard G. Thomas (Class 31)
- Frederick Gregory (Class 58)
- Charles Bolden (former NASA Administrator and former Space Shuttle Commander) (Class 75)
- Pierre Thuot(Class 83)
- William "Willie" McCool (Class 101)
- Mark Kelly(Class 105)
- Scott Kelly (Class 105)
- Sunita Williams (1993, Class 104)
- Stephen S. Oswald (Class 74)
- Paul Sohl (Class 104)
- Art "Turbo" Tomassetti (1997, Class 112)
- Anne McClain (Class 143)
- Nicholas "Reek" Jahrmarkt (Class 161)
See also
References
- ISBN 9781557509253.
- ^ a b c d "US Naval Test Pilot School - Rotary Wing Proqram Update by Craig R. Nixon" (PDF). fcc.vtol.org. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
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