Breaking into Test Flying

ppragman

ppragman

No pasa nada.
How do I do this? That's what I want to do in the "long run," how do I work my way into it? I've got over 5,000hrs, but I'm not sure that hours really mean a whole lot when it comes to getting into that kind of work, so what does a guy need to be a civilian test pilot working for one of the GA manufacturers? Thanks.
 
ppragman said:
How do I do this? That's what I want to do in the "long run," how do I work my way into it? I've got over 5,000hrs, but I'm not sure that hours really mean a whole lot when it comes to getting into that kind of work, so what does a guy need to be a civilian test pilot working for one of the GA manufacturers? Thanks.
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Not sure of all the requirements, but set up an email alert on Gulfstream's website for pilot jobs.

I know most test pilots have an engineering degree, etc. At the airlines there are usually a few technical pilots, and that gig is easier to get.
 
You'll need a heavy engineering background (and probably work experience). The military route seems to be preferred as they actually have training programs for that. A second possible way in is to become a delivery pilot for one of the manufactures and work your way in to flight test once you are flying for the company.

Or, you could go to a crappy 121 regional, be junior on reserve and get assigned all the broken airplane repos and ferry flights that nobody else wants.
 
All the ones I know of currently at Boeing, have a military background, engineering degrees, test pilot background in the military and test pilots at NASA. Even the CPs there have decades of flying experience and they have engineering/ aeronautical degrees. I only know of two CPs/test pilots there who do not have military backgrounds. Now those two did work their way up at Boeing to becoming a CP and a test pilot however. There could be or could have been others that I am not aware of as well. So it can be accomplished.

I believe that all the test pilots at Piper all had military aviation backgrounds and engineering degrees, for example. I know that Beech mostly had retired 121 and 91 guys ferrying/delivering their planes. Most (not all) the test pilots at Cessna pretty much are similar in backgrounds and education as the Boeing guys too and some of them also instruct. I know one TP at Beech was a former Navy aviator as well. But there are TPs with no military background so don't give up because of this. I would imagine however, that they want experience in type or in a similar type of aircraft too.

Getting on at a company, having the engineering degree and working your way up may be a real possibility. But I am pretty sure you are going to need 121, 135 or 91 jet time as well. (you need a decent amount of hours) There is chase plane work to be had and copilot opportunities.There are degrees and courses in Flight Test Engineering and that would give you a real leg up.

You could contact these folks, http://www.setp.org/

They are having the West Coast Symposium, San Diego will be held:
28-29 March 2014 That would be an excellent source to attend, make contacts and ask all the questions you need to and get real answers and advice. They have several other symposiums listed in varies locations as well.

I wish I had more and better info for you, but this is just my 2 cents of what I know which is limited in this area.
 
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Here is a listing at Lear for example:

http://www.ehrcweb.org/jobs/Other/Find-job-AH-1-Maintenance-Test-Pilot-547670.htm

Here's a Bombie job listing:

http://jobs.bombardier.com/job/Engineering-Test-Pilot/1933419/

Start looking on the net at various manufacturers and see what is open and what the requirements are.

Now here is an ad for Cessna as a Flight Ops Pilot:

https://textron.taleo.net/careersection/cessna/jobdetail.ftl

They have the same listing at another facility as well.

https://textron.taleo.net/careersection/cessna/jobdetail.ftl

This might be a good way to work up to being a TP.

Again, check put the various manufacturers and see what listings they have for pilot jobs and the requirements. I wish you the best!
 
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We have a test pilot on JC. Not sure if he'll chime in, but he is a civilian guy that worked for a Seattle aircraft manufacturer before moving to 121.
 
This is my professional goal as well. I'm currently working on an aerospace engineering degree, and hope to get a job in flight test engineering after I graduate and work my way up.
 
I know a few test pilots who started in the aircraft acceptance and delivery side. Make sure you make a good plusses and minuses chart before you chose this path... I personally think that test flying salaries are low and the work can be a bit like watching paint dry. The good thing is that you'll likely be home every night.

If you're still interested, let me give you an hour on Pitot-static correction techniques....
 
hook_dupin said:
I know a few test pilots who started in the aircraft acceptance and delivery side. Make sure you make a good plusses and minuses chart before you chose this path... I personally think that test flying salaries are low and the work can be a bit like watching paint dry. The good thing is that you'll likely be home every night.

If you're still interested, let me give you an hour on Pitot-static correction techniques....
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Totally interested - still. I want to be a part of making better airplanes. Truth of the matter is, I can't really expect to be "home every night" in a lot of aspects of aviation (though at this job I am, which is great), and generally test flying is something I've always wanted to do. One of my favorite things to do right now is to do MX check flights just because flying around and doing something other than simply going from A to B is nice. The structure of "ok, go out and fly it in this particular way" is pretty cool. I also really like flying different airplanes consistently (not sure if I'd do that on average in the production-test world) but right now I'm flying 3 different airplanes regularly and learning how to transition between different airplanes routinely and still be safe is a blast. The trick is going to be figuring out how to pay for a return to school without breaking the bank.
 
inigo88 said:
This is my professional goal as well. I'm currently working on an aerospace engineering degree, and hope to get a job in flight test engineering after I graduate and work my way up.
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Did you fly for a living before you started doing this?
 
ppragman said:
How do I do this? That's what I want to do in the "long run," how do I work my way into it? I've got over 5,000hrs, but I'm not sure that hours really mean a whole lot when it comes to getting into that kind of work, so what does a guy need to be a civilian test pilot working for one of the GA manufacturers? Thanks.
Click to expand...

So what kind of time do you have. 5000 hours of what? How old are you? Work experience?

Here are some minimum requirements. There are very, very few pilots currently working as a Test Pilot that dont have the following

BS in Engineering, MS preferred
Experience in Flight Test, especially since you are not a TPS grad. Virtually no one starts as a test pilot without being a TPS grad or working for years in the business.
A strong background in Part 23 or Part 25
A bunch of relevant flying experience. If you are looking to be a jet test pilot, you would need 1000+ hours of jet PIC time.
Know someone in the business. This is one of the most interconnected groups in the country. I would bet it is less than one degree of separation between every working test pilot in the country

I would be happy to give you more information if you like. jimflyfast at comcast dot net.

You can also look at my website to see my qualifications to be making these statements

www.mmoaviation.com
 
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Wow, you must know the wrong test pilots, because I do quite well as do most of the guys I hang out with. I also doubt that you would find doing Vmca or takeoff performance work like watching paint dry. And, most of us travel a lot.

hook_dupin said:
I know a few test pilots who started in the aircraft acceptance and delivery side. Make sure you make a good plusses and minuses chart before you chose this path... I personally think that test flying salaries are low and the work can be a bit like watching paint dry. The good thing is that you'll likely be home every night.

..
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ppragman said:
How do I do this? That's what I want to do in the "long run," how do I work my way into it? I've got over 5,000hrs, but I'm not sure that hours really mean a whole lot when it comes to getting into that kind of work, so what does a guy need to be a civilian test pilot working for one of the GA manufacturers? Thanks.
Click to expand...


When you're a ferry pilot, every flight is a test flight.
 
ppragman said:
How do I do this? That's what I want to do in the "long run," how do I work my way into it? I've got over 5,000hrs, but I'm not sure that hours really mean a whole lot when it comes to getting into that kind of work, so what does a guy need to be a civilian test pilot working for one of the GA manufacturers? Thanks.
Click to expand...


1. Build an airplane. 2. Eat a whole bunch of oysters. 3. Go fly the airplane you built.
 
Jimflyfast said:
So what kind of time do you have. 5000 hours of what? How old are you? Work experience?

Here are some minimum requirements. There are very, very few pilots currently working as a Test Pilot that dont have the following

BS in Engineering, MS preferred
Experience in Flight Test, especially since you are not a TPS grad. Virtually no one starts as a test pilot without being a TPS grad or working for years in the business.
A strong background in Part 23 or Part 25
A bunch of relevant flying experience. If you are looking to be a jet test pilot, you would need 1000+ hours of jet PIC time.
Know someone in the business. This is one of the most interconnected groups in the country. I would bet it is less than one degree of separation between every working test pilot in the country

I would be happy to give you more information if you like. jimflyfast at comcast dot net.

You can also look at my website to see my qualifications to be making these statements

www.mmoaviation.com
Click to expand...
Nice website Jim.
 
Jimflyfast said:
So what kind of time do you have. 5000 hours of what? How old are you? Work experience?

Here are some minimum requirements. There are very, very few pilots currently working as a Test Pilot that dont have the following

BS in Engineering, MS preferred
Experience in Flight Test, especially since you are not a TPS grad. Virtually no one starts as a test pilot without being a TPS grad or working for years in the business.
A strong background in Part 23 or Part 25
A bunch of relevant flying experience. If you are looking to be a jet test pilot, you would need 1000+ hours of jet PIC time.
Know someone in the business. This is one of the most interconnected groups in the country. I would bet it is less than one degree of separation between every working test pilot in the country

I would be happy to give you more information if you like. jimflyfast at comcast dot net.

You can also look at my website to see my qualifications to be making these statements

www.mmoaviation.com
Click to expand...
Oh wow, you most certainly all qualified to make these statements - nice website.

I've got 5000hrs of mostly 135 flying, all over the lower 48 and Alaska. I'm typed in the Beech 1900, and currently fly a Caravan, a Navajo, and a PC-12 for a living right now. Most of my time is in pistons, I have about 2000 Turbine (ish) and 2000ME, 800MTPIC.
I'm 25 years old. Been flying for a living since I was 19. Currently transitioning into the Chief Pilot position where I'm at. I'd be interested in doing smaller aircraft testing. I'm young, so the goal would be to kind of direct my career in this direction so I could gradually work into it.

I don't have a bachelors - but I'm decent at math, I could go and get an engineering degree if that's what I needed to do (in fact I'd like to honestly). I'll send you an email.
 
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