Editing Test pilot (section)

==History==
Test flying as a systematic activity started during the [[World War I|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 Advisory Committee for Aeronautics]] (NACA) in the [[United States]]. In the 1950s, NACA was transformed into 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|date=July 2018}} 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 vehicle]]s to test experimental aircraft features. Still, piloting experimental aircraft remains more dangerous than most other types of flying.

At the insistence of President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], the first American [[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 [[Empire Test Pilots' School]] (motto "Learn to Test – Test to Learn"), at [[RAF Boscombe Down]] in the UK. There are a number of [[List of test pilot schools|similar establishments over the world]]. In America, the [[United States Air Force Test Pilot School]] is located at [[Edwards Air Force Base]], the [[United States Naval Test Pilot School]] is located at [[Naval Air Station Patuxent River]], Maryland and [[EPNER]] (''Ecole du Personnel Navigant d'Essai et de Reception'' – "School for flight test and acceptance personnel"), the French test pilot school, is located in [[Istres]], France. There are only two civilian schools; the [[International Test Pilots School]] in [[London, Ontario]], and the [[National Test Pilot School]], a not-for-profit educational institute is in Mojave, California. In [[Russia]], there is a [[Ministry of Industry and Trade (Russia)|Russian aviation industry]] [[Fedotov Test Pilot School]] (founded 1947)<ref name="ShLI2002">{{cite book |date=2002 |editor-last=Знаменская |editor-first=Наталья |title=ШЛИ со временем |trans-title=ShLI in Time |url=https://search.rsl.ru/ru/search#yf=2002&yt=2002&q=%D1%88%D0%BB%D0%B8%20%D1%81%D0%BE%20%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BC |language=RU |edition=2 |location=Жуковский |publisher=ООО "Редакция газеты "Жуковские вести" |pages=400 }}</ref> located in [[Zhukovsky (city)|Zhukovsky]] within the [[Gromov Flight Research Institute]].