Editing Test pilot

{{short description|Pilot with extra training to test aircraft}}
{{For|the cocktail|Test Pilot (cocktail)}}{{For|the film|Test Pilot (film)}}
{{redirect|Testpilot|the electronic music producer|Deadmau5}}
{{More footnotes|date=April 2009}}
[[File:Léon Lemartin (1911).jpg|thumb|[[Léon Lemartin]], the world's first professional test pilot,<ref>[http://patrimoine.gadz.org/gadz/lemartin.htm Léon Lemartin (Ai. 1899)]</ref> under contract to [[Louis Blériot]] in {{c.|1910}}]]
[[File:Curtiss Racer NASA GPN-2000-001310.jpg|thumb|[[Jimmy Doolittle]] in 1928 with his [[Curtiss R3C-2]], around the time he pioneered [[blind flying]]]]
[[File:Chuck Yeager.jpg|thumb|[[Chuck Yeager]] and the [[Bell X-1]], first test pilot to break the [[sound barrier]] at [[Mach number|Mach 1]] in 1947]]
[[File:Pilot Neil Armstrong and X-15 -1 - GPN-2000-000121.jpg|thumb|right|[[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.<ref>Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing of the Airplane.'' American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., 1996, p. 265</ref>

==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]].

==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 article|Category:Test pilots}}
*[[Milburn G. Apt|Milburn Apt]], first U.S. Air Force test pilot to fly faster than Mach 3
*[[Eric Brown (pilot)|Eric "Winkle" Brown]], flew more aircraft types than any other pilot
*[[Albert Scott Crossfield|Scott Crossfield]], chief test pilot at North American Engineering
*[[David Davies (test pilot)|David P. Davies]], chief test pilot for the UK Civil Aviation Authority
*[[Tony LeVier]], chief engineering test pilot at Lockheed Corporation
*[[Chuck Yeager]], first pilot to break the sound barrier in level flight
*[[Fernando Alonso (engineer)|Fernando Alonso]], former Head of Airbus Flight Test
*[[Hanna Reitsch]], WWII German aviator and test pilot
*[[Joseph Summers|'Mutt' Summers]], first to fly the [[Supermarine Spitfire]]
*[[Alex Henshaw]], WWII British test pilot, [[air racer]] and author
*[[Aleksandr Fedotov (pilot)|Aleksandr Fedotov]], first Soviet pilot to reach Mach 3
*[[Vladimir Ilyushin]], first Soviet pilot to fly the [[Su-27]]
*[[Viktor Pugachev]], first public performer of the [[Cobra maneuver]]
*[[Anatoly Kvochur]], Soviet/Russian test pilot known for aerobatics in [[Su-27]] and [[MiG-29]]
*[[André Turcat]], French test pilot and first to fly the [[Concorde]]
*[[Brian Trubshaw]], first British pilot to fly the Concorde
*[[Svetlana Savitskaya]], Soviet/Russian test pilot, [[cosmonaut]] and politician
*[[Toktar Aubakirov]], Soviet test pilot first Kazakh in space
*[[Geoffrey de Havilland Jr|Geoffrey de Havilland]], first to fly the [[de Havilland Mosquito|Mosquito]]
*[[Pavel Vlasov]], Soviet/Russian test pilot known for aerobatics in [[MiG-29]]OVT
*[[Alvin M. Johnston]], aka "Tex", test pilot for Boeing famously "Dutch" rolled 707 prototype

==See also==
* [[List of aerospace flight test centres]]
* ''[[The Right Stuff (book)|The Right Stuff]]'' by Tom Wolfe

==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* Hallion, Richard P.''Test Pilots: Frontiersmen of Flight''. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Press, 1988. {{ISBN|978-0874745498}}
* Warsitz, Lutz: ''THE FIRST JET PILOT – The Story of German Test Pilot Erich Warsitz'', Pen and Sword Books Ltd., England, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-84415-818-8}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
* [http://www.setp.org/ The Society of Experimental Test Pilots]
* [http://www.sfte.org/ Society of Flight Test Engineers]
* [https://openlibrary.org/works/OL4300671W/Flying_the_edge Wilson, George C. ''Flying the edge: the making of Navy test pilots'']. Naval Institute Press, 1992. {{ISBN|1557509255}}.
* [http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/memorial/ Memorial website for test pilots who died in flying accidents in the UK]
* [http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1957/1957%20-%201311.html ''Flight'' list of display and test pilots at 1957 Farnborough air show]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20101118084001/http://scottcrossfieldfoundation.org/ The Scott Crossfield Foundation]}}
* [http://www.erichwarsitz.com Website on Erich Warsitz (world's first jet pilot)]

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[[Category:Test pilots| ]]
[[Category:Occupations in aviation]]