I've been maintaining helicopters for over 20 yrs, military to begin with and civil for the last 10 (a few fix-wing types aswell). I'm an EASA licensed aircraft maintenance engineer.
Got a technical aerospace HNC and I'm just over a year into a part-time BSc (Hons) in aircraft maint engineering.
Love my job, especially the trouble-shooting/ fault-finding part of it, and the pay is alright, but have become more and more interested in the how & why & how could it be better of helicopter design.
I spent a short time at Boscombe doing rotorwing maintenance, a few years back now, and got a brief insight into the R & D there. I have met a few serving and x- ETPS TPs throughout my career who have impressed me with their knowledge and approach to the post maintenance flight tests we have been involved with together.
I may be a little too late in my career to take a road into flight test engineering, but I'm interested in it and looking to find out more about it.