Originally Posted by
EXDAC
If you ask "the man on the street" about flight test they probably think of daring pilots climbing into aircraft that stand a good chance of killing them. There is a lot more to flight test and flight test engineering than the tasks performed by the test pilot. Actually many of the tasks (test points) performed by the test pilot can be very dull and are best done by the autopilot.
I started in flight test because I knew something about the systems being tested. In my case it was avionics. I was a private rated glider pilot but the flight test job (development and certification of Cat IIIa autoland) had more to do with the ability to count small squares on a pen recorder plot without throwing up than it had to do with my flying skills.
That first flight test program was with the airframe company but I was on several more representing the avionics supplier. On those later programs it was a natural progression from system specification, through system integration in test labs, and then to the flight test aircraft. I wasn't recruited for any of those programs to be a flight test engineer but the best people to have on the airplane were those who had helped develop the systems under test and knew how they should perform.
For some the meaning of "flight test engineer" is very specific - it's the person who prepares the flight test procedures (test cards) and directs the conduct of each test card during the actual flight test. For others it's more general. On my first flight test program my position in the flight test organization was "senior flight test engineer" but I never had the role of flight test engineer on a test flight. I was just one of the guys in back.
There are many ways to be involved in flight test. How specialized do you want to be?
Hi,
thank you so much for your reply!
Not very specific initially, I really wanna get my foot into the door, and see where it leads me. The plan however, is to not only look for the flight test positions, but aim for major employers and later leverage myself into the position, depending on the availability.