Mission
The mission of the USAF TPS is to produce highly adaptive, critical-thinking flight test professionals to lead and conduct full-spectrum test and evaluation of aerospace weapon systems. Performing this mission allows the school to fulfill the vision of being the world's premiere educational and training center of excellence for theoretical and applied flight test engineering.Selection process
* Admission into the USAF TPS is extremely competitive, with thousands of pilots to select from. The best and the brightest of the available thousands compete to attend this school. Not uncommonly, potential students have been alternates two or three times before being accepted.USAF TPS Graduate Course Catalog, p. 17. * Civilians are also permitted and encouraged to apply for the long-course program. * Prospective students should provide AF Form 1711, USAF Test Pilot School Application, plus additional forms specific to a) USAF Pilot/Navigator, b) Experimental FTE, and c) Civilian applicant for the selection board.USAF TPS Graduate Course Catalog, p. 19. * Experimental FTE and civilian applicants are required to undergo a flying Class III physical prior to the TPS selection board.USAF TPS Graduate Course Catalog, p. 20. * Applications must be received by Special Flying Programs Section HQ AFPC/DPAOT3 no later than 45 days before the selection boards meets. USAF selection boards are held once a year at the Headquarters of the Air Force Personnel Center. The boards are normally held in November, and the board selects the TPS two classes for the next year. At this point,t AFIT-TPS students and students for foreign TPS schools are also selected. The USAF TPS commandant chairs the board. Board members consist of a HQ AFPC colonel, and at least a majority of the board members must be TPS graduates (majors or lieutenant colonels) who are standing flight test squadron commanders. The AFMC/DO selects board members.Admission requirements
All candidates require secret clearance.U.S. Air Force Test Pilot SchoolExchange program
From time to time, students are selected to attend different test pilot schools in an exchange program between test cultures. Toward this end, students can be sent to the Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, and vice versa. Also, the USAF Test Pilot School has an exchange program with the Empire Test Pilots' School at Boscombe Down, England, and the EPNER (École du Personnel Navigant d'Essais et de Réception), the French Test Pilot's School.USAF TPS Graduate Course Catalog, p. 18.Course of study
* The USAF TPS curriculum is designed to grant a Master of Science degree in flight test engineering through the Air Force's Air University at the end of the 48-week course. Students are required to take all of the 20 offered courses to graduate. This is a total of 50 credit hours for the 48-week course. Each of the four phases is broken down into three or four main lecture courses, plus their associated flight laboratory work or flight simulator work, and actual practice flights. To graduate from the USAF TPS, a student must be in good standing and satisfactorily complete all academic tests, all oral and written reports, all of the required flight missions, and comprehensive pregraduation written and oral evaluations with an overall GPA of 3.0 or better.USAF TPS Graduate Course Catalog, p. 21. * Accreditation from the American Council of Education has been in effect since July 1974 (last updated in July 1998) to recommend selected coursework for transfer credit to other higher education institutions.USAF TPS Graduate Course Catalog, p. 37. * At graduation, the commandant usually presents these awards: ** Liethen-Tittle Award to the experimental test pilot graduate with the best overall record for outstanding performance and academic excellence ** R.L. Jones Award to the outstanding experimental test navigator or experimental flight test engineer graduate with the best overall record for outstanding performance and academic excellenceCurriculum
* Two classes are held each year, 48 weeks each (long class). Students can apply for one of three tracks - experimental test pilot, flight test engineer, or flight test navigator. The upper class is called the senior class, while the lower class is called the juniors, determined by what point they are at in their studies at TPS. The class size at TPS varies. Over the past few years, over 20 TPS students have been in each class. * The four main subdisciplines taught by the USAF TPS Education Division are:USAF TPS Graduate Course Catalog, p. 24. ** Performance ** Flying qualities ** Systems ** Test management * TPS also offers short courses in these areas:USAF TPS Graduate Course Catalog, p. 35-36. ** Aerospace vehicle test course ** Unmanned aerial vehicle flight test engineering ** Electronic warfare flight test engineering ** Test management ** Equations of motion ** Propulsion ** Senior executive course * Organization of the class uses this chain of command:USAF TPS Graduate Course Catalog, p. 14. ** Commandant—TPS commander ** Deputy commandant—TPS deputy commander ** Class leader— assigned by the front office based on seniority and academic curriculum to assist the student population ** Students * Facilities include:USAF TPS Graduate Course Catalog, p. 11. ** Two fully functional control rooms ** RADAR and electro-optics labs ** Variable-stability in-flight simulator test aircraft or F-16 VISTA ** Student library ** About 100 airborne laboratories over the course of the academic year fromHistory
Early years
Although the United States Armed Forces had been evaluating aircraft since Lt. Benny Foulois flew with Orville Wright in 1909, the designation of "test pilot" was not formally applied until a group of McCook Field pilots was assigned to a flight testing squadron at Wright Field during World War I. Test pilot selection was a seemingly indiscriminate process yielding a mix of experienced pilots who had volunteered for the task, flight instructors who were simply assigned to the job, and the occasional officer fresh from flying school. One of the latter, Lt.At Wright-Patterson AFB
Inspired by the RAF's Empire Test Pilots' School, Colonel Ernest K. Warburton, chief of the Flight Test Section at Wright Field, set about changing the role and status of flight testing in theHeading west
Frequent bad weather and increased air traffic congestion at Wright-Patterson often prevented students from completing their course work on time.''USAF Test Pilot School 50 Years and Beyond'', p. 40. In addition, most USAAF airplanes were by then being manufactured and tested by contractors on the West Coast of the United States. For these and other reasons, Col. Boyd began the transfer of all flight test operations, including the test pilot school, to Muroc Army Air Field. next to Rogers Dry Lake in the desert of southern California. The school continued operations at Patterson Field, and 1947, had the first United States Air Force class and the first class to fly jets.Lopez, ''Fighter Pilot's Heaven'', p.129. The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star would provide jet performance training at the school until 1954. In 1949, this school was renamed the Air Material Command Experimental Test Pilot School, and the soon-to-be Brigadier General Boyd assumed command of Muroc Air Force Base. Boyd chose Major John Amman, an instructor at the school, to go to Muroc AFB, and implement the details of the school's move westward.''USAF Test Pilot School 50 Years and Beyond'', p. 41. On 8 December 1949, Muroc AFB was renamed theEdwards Air Force Base
The TPS was housed in an old weather-beaten wooden hangar along the flight line of what became known as South Base. Although the quarters were spartan, the weather was superb with only two flying days lost due to weather in the first seven months of operation. Taking advantage of the calm morning air, students started the day flying missions to collect test data. Afternoons were spent in the lecture hall, and evenings were devoted to reducing data from the day's flights. Data reduction was dull and labor-intensive, requiring the student to transcribe information recorded on film or oscillograph paper and perform calculations by hand or slide rule. Once reduced, the data were woven into a report that summarized the test and the student's conclusions.''USAF Test Pilot School 50 Years and Beyond'', p. 42. Some students were not prepared for the rigorous academics and had to be dropped from enrollment. This situation improved in 1953, when the school was moved out of Air Research and Development Command, which allowed the selection boards to draw from a much larger, USAF-wide, pool of applicants, rather than just the local test squadrons. Although changes to the curriculum could be made quickly, acquisition of aircraft for the school remained a perennial challenge for the school's staff. The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star arrived in 1953 and became a staple for the students over the next 23 years. More aircraft types were added during the 1950s, including the Republic F-84 Thunderjet, North American F-86 Sabre, North American F-100 Super Sabre, Martin B-57 Canberra, and Convair F-102 Delta Dagger — the school's first delta-winged airplane.''USAF Test Pilot School 50 Years and Beyond'', p. 43. In 1955, the school was renamed the U.S. Air Force Flight Test Pilot School, and a year later, moved into its present location on the Main Base facility. This new building, built at a cost of $156,000, was the first and only structure designed specifically for the purposes of the school.''USAF Test Pilot School 50 Years and Beyond'', p. 45. In 1956, the school chose an official emblem, featuring a slide rule in front of the silhouette of a climbing jet, and a motto, ''Scientia est Virtus'' — Latin for "Knowledge is Power". The new logo emphasized the school's role in preparing students with both the technical theory and flying skills indispensable for evaluating modern aircraft. The new logo also replaced the unofficial badge of Dr. Howland Owl, a character from the popular Pogo comic strip, that appeared on the noses of many of school's airplanes. As the Air Force gradually developed an aerospace doctrine during this period, a small cadre began to establish the criteria for additional course work aimed at qualifying TPS graduates for the tasks of an astronaut. On Oct. 12, 1961, the Test Pilot School was redesignated the U.S. Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS), with the curriculum expanded to a full year, divided into Phase I (Experimental Test Pilot Course) and Phase II (Aerospace Research Pilot Course). Between 1962 and 1975, the test pilot school expanded its role to include astronaut training for armed forces test pilots. Thirty-seven TPS graduates were selected for the U.S. space program, and 26 earned astronaut's wings by flying in the X-15, Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs.Young, ''Forging Aerospace Power for America'', pgs. 3–4. On 21 May 2009, a T-38 Talon from the test pilot school on a training flight crashed 12 miles north of Edwards AFB, killing the student pilot Major Mark Paul Graziano and severely injuring the student navigator Major Lee Vincent Jones. An accident investigation determined that the crash was caused when the aircraft's rudder operating mechanism disconnected the flight controls from the rudder actuators and caused the rudder to deflect 30° to the left. This induced an uncontrollable yaw and a resulting roll, causing the aircraft to depart controlled flight, a condition that is unrecoverable in the T-38. The report stated that contributing factors to the crash were a structural fatigue failure or structural break in a critical component or bolt, and a maintenance error in which a nut or cotter pin did not properly secure a bolt connecting two critical components. Citing two historical cases of rudder failure, the report concluded that maintenance error was the more likely cause. The investigation concluded, "insufficient supervisory oversight and a lack of discipline of the training process" in the maintenance unit existed in relation to the mishap aircraft.'' Military Times'',Personnel
Commandants
The commanding officer of the USAF test pilot school is better known by the title of commandant. Although not an official prerequisite for the position, most commandants are themselves graduates of the test pilot school. , Colonel Sebrina Pabon is the commandant of the school.Notable alumni
TPS has produced many notable alumni, including astronauts, record-setting aviators, and senior Air Force leaders.See also
* List of test pilot schoolsNotes
References
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''This article contains information that came from a public domain government website''External links
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