All airliners undergo a rigorous testing programme before carriers can begin using them, and test pilots are an integral part of this process.
But how do you become one?
Frank Chapman is an experimental test pilot for European aerospace giant Airbus, and he’s been involved with the company since early 2004 when he joined to help with the A380 programme.
Since then, he’s worked on practically every type the firm offers and most notably led the flight test campaign for the A350-1000.
“I finished up reading engineering at university and then joined the Royal Air Force, initially as a fighter pilot flying the Harrier and Phantom operationally and then I went to the French test pilot school,” Chapman recalls, as he speaks over Zoom from Airbus’ facility in Toulouse. “I came back to Farnborough and worked there for a couple of years on developing systems primarily for the Eurofighter, Buccaneer, Jaguar and a few others.”
He finished his RAF career with an exchange programme with the US Air Force where he flew the F-16 in flight test for four years from a base in Florida.
