Test Pilots
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Test Pilots
What does a test pilot do? I don't mean in the year between first flight of a new type and it being deemed airworthy, but say if the 5000th A320 or B737-800 is produced, what is achieved during the pre-delivery flights?
What other roles does a test pilot have?
What other roles does a test pilot have?
Join Date: Sep 2002
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A production test pilot will, on a newly built aircraft, conduct a series of tests during one or more likely several flights to verify that the aircraft has been built according to the design and operates accordingly. While there are many things checks on ground or during build, some things can only be checked out by operating the whole aircraft. Examples of tests they might do are basic trimmability (checks the aircraft was built "straight"), stalls to confirm the stall speeds are appropriate (checks the wing build, mainly) and that any stall warning/protection system work correctly, engine relights, radio checks (looking for interference effects, for example) and whole bunch of stuff.
In terms of "the year between first flight of a new type and it being deemed airworthy" I think you've been listening a bit too much to the hype. A year from first flight to certification is very optimistic, especially for any kind of significantly new design. Personally, I've only seen it once, and that was on a pretty straightforward derivative.
But however long it takes, once you get into "post certification" you are not done with test flying at all. You're going to have all kinds of product improvements to test - new kit, or new capabilities. All generally require a flight test of some scope. You're also going to have in-service issues come up that you didn't anticipate - failure modes that no-one thought of. You might have to do some flight tests to understand the consequences, and work out what you need to do as a fix. And then more tests to actually certify the fix.
That's all just the flying part. A decent part of the TP's job, both during the initial certification and perhaps even more "post cert" is the engineering part of the job as an "engineering test pilot". Reviewing designs and proposals to aid the engineers in coming up with something which is going to "work" in pilot terms. So, lots of meetings and paperwork.
(And no, full disclosure, I'm not a TP, but I do deal with them a lot)
In terms of "the year between first flight of a new type and it being deemed airworthy" I think you've been listening a bit too much to the hype. A year from first flight to certification is very optimistic, especially for any kind of significantly new design. Personally, I've only seen it once, and that was on a pretty straightforward derivative.
But however long it takes, once you get into "post certification" you are not done with test flying at all. You're going to have all kinds of product improvements to test - new kit, or new capabilities. All generally require a flight test of some scope. You're also going to have in-service issues come up that you didn't anticipate - failure modes that no-one thought of. You might have to do some flight tests to understand the consequences, and work out what you need to do as a fix. And then more tests to actually certify the fix.
That's all just the flying part. A decent part of the TP's job, both during the initial certification and perhaps even more "post cert" is the engineering part of the job as an "engineering test pilot". Reviewing designs and proposals to aid the engineers in coming up with something which is going to "work" in pilot terms. So, lots of meetings and paperwork.
(And no, full disclosure, I'm not a TP, but I do deal with them a lot)
