Chris Croot visited the world-renowned Empire Test Pilots’ School to find out what it takes to train a flight-test professional
The Empire Test Pilots’ School (ETPS) has the distinction of being the world’s first test pilot training facility. The school was formed in early 1943 by Air Marshal Sr Ralph Sorley in response to high casualty rates during flight testing of new aircraft. Originally established as the Test Pilots’ Training Flight, it became the Test Pilots’ School at the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) in June 1943, then ETPS in July 1944 and has continued to deliver flight-test instruction under this name ever since.
In 2001, ETPS was sold by the UK government to a private defence technology company. The school now operates as a partnership between the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) and QinetiQ from MoD Boscombe Down, an airfield steeped in flight test history.
Leaders
Air ForcesMonthly sat down with senior members of ETPS’s leadership to discover how flight test professionals are taught, and how those lessons will impact the future of aerospace.
Col Rae is QinetiQ’s current chief test pilot (CTP), having previously served in the RAF as a Nimrod MR2 pilot and later…
