The International Test Pilots School Canada (ITPS Canada) located in
London, Ontario
London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
, is one of the eight
test pilot schools recognized globally by the international
Society of Experimental Test Pilots
The Society of Experimental Test Pilots is an international organization that seeks to promote air safety and contributes to aeronautical advancement by promoting sound aeronautical design and development; interchanging ideas, thoughts and suggest ...
and the Society of Flight Test Engineers.
The school trains test pilots and flight test engineers. It is the first
civilian
Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, ...
test pilot school in Canada.
ITPS Canada is registered as an Authorized Training Organization by the
European Aviation Safety Agency
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitorin ...
. It shares some facilities with and neighbours the
Jet Aircraft Museum at
London International Airport.
History
ITPS first offered flight test training in 1986, when established by a previous senior staff member of the
Empire Test Pilots School in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and No ...
.
The school was first located in
Cranfield
Cranfield is a village and civil parish in the west of Bedfordshire, England, situated between Bedford and Milton Keynes. It had a population of 4,909 in 2001. increasing to 5,369 at the 2011 Census. The parish is in Central Bedfordshire uni ...
in England, working alongside the prestigious College of Aeronautics at
Cranfield University
, mottoeng = After clouds light
, established = 1946 - College of Aeronautics 1969 - Cranfield Institute of Technology (gained university status by royal charter) 1993 - Cranfield University (adopted current name)
, type = Public research uni ...
.
In 2001, the school moved its operations to the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment located at
CFB Cold Lake
Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake , abbreviated as CFB Cold Lake, is a Canadian Forces Base in the City of Cold Lake, Alberta.
The facility is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and is approximately south of the ...
before moving to its current location at
London International Airport,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
in 2005. In 2017, the school was recognized by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
In 2019, ITPS Canada hosted the international 8th Annual Flight Test Seminar. Operations include a 10,000 square foot modern offices and classrooms and a 27,000 square foot
hangar
A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...
.
Training
The curriculum includes both long and short courses focusing on
flight test
Flight testing is a branch of aeronautical engineering that develops specialist equipment required for testing aircraft behaviour and systems. Instrumentation systems are developed using proprietary transducers and data acquisition systems. D ...
s. Flight test graduate and diploma courses are offered, the former typically for military students.
Test planning, test flying, data analysis and report writing are all part of the training.
Students from around the world are trained using various military fighters,
training jets, light airplanes, helicopters and
flight simulator
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...
s.
One of Australia's first
RAAF
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
female pilots,
Robyn Clay-Williams, trained at ITPS
Staff
ITPS Canada has staff members from multiple countries including academics, retired military veterans, maintenance personnel and test pilot graduates in the field of flight testing and flight test engineering. Notable staff over the years included retired
Canadian Space Agency
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; french: Agence spatiale canadienne, ASC) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''.
The president is Lisa Campbell, who took the position on September 3, 202 ...
astronaut and
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they ar ...
Bjarni Tryggvason
Bjarni Valdimar Tryggvason (September 21, 1945 – April 5, 2022) was an Icelandic-born Canadian engineer and a NRC/ CSA astronaut. He served as a Payload Specialist on Space Shuttle mission STS-85 in 1997, a 12-day mission to study changes in ...
who flew on
Space Shuttle Discovery
Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to ...
.
Aircraft
See also
*
List of test pilot schools
References
{{coord, 43.03099, N, 81.15552, W, display=title
Test pilot schools
Educational institutions established in 1986
Education in London, Ontario
1986 establishments in Ontario