Test pilot

A test pilot is a person who drives an aircraft (such as an airplane or spacecraft) in ways that allow the aircraft to be tried out. The methods a test pilot uses to try out an aircraft are called "flight test techniques" (FTTs). The pilot uses the FTTs to find out if the aircraft works well or not.

Test pilots may work for the military or for a company. Flying military aircraft in order to test them is the most difficult and dangerous kind of flying other than flying in war.

In the 1950s, one test pilot died in an accident every week or so, but many fewer die today. This is because aircraft technology has been improved and because more testing is done on the ground rather than in the air. Also, unmanned aerial vehicles are now often used for testing. Still, the job of test pilot is more dangerous than other jobs for pilots.

A test pilot must be able to:

• Understand a test plan;
• Follow a test plan while flying a plane;
• Record the results of each test;
• Sense how the aircraft is behaving oddly, if it is doing so;
• Solve problems quickly if anything goes wrong with the aircraft during a test;
• Solve many different problems at once.
• Communicate flight test results to engineers and other pilots.

Test pilots must know about aerospace engineering in order to know how and why planes are tested. They must be more skilled than most other pilots.