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National Test Pilot School

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The National Test Pilot School ( NTPS ) is the only civilian test-pilot school in the United States, located in Mojave, California . It is organized as a not-for-profit educational institute under California state law and is governed by a board of trustees. NTPS is one of the seven test-pilot schools worldwide recognized by the international Society of Experimental Test Pilots , giving pilot graduates of NTPS instant initial acceptance into their society. In 2016, NTPS became the first test-pilot school in the world to be certified as a Flight Test Authorised Training Organisation by the European Aviation Safety Organization.

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39-628: The NTPS grew out of a successful series of introductory flight test courses taught for military test organizations in the United States and Canada. Using an instrumented De Havilland Dove (DH-104), introductory, two-week performance and flying qualities flight test courses were taught for Edwards AFB , California; Patuxent River NAS , Maryland ; Eglin AFB , Florida ; the Naval Postgraduate School , California; Wright-Patterson AFB , Ohio ; and

78-597: A Paraguayan head of state during the rule of Alfredo Stroessner . It was subsequently replaced by a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter . A few Doves and civilianised Devons remained in use in 2011 in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and elsewhere with small commercial firms and with private pilot owners. Portuguese Angola Portuguese Cape Verde Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Timor [REDACTED]   South Africa A de Havilland Dove featured prominently in

117-419: A configuration it was capable of seating five passengers; the executive model proved to be popular with various overseas customers, particularly those in the United States. The crew typically consisted of a pilot and radio operator , although rapidly removable dual flight controls could be installed for a second flying crewmember. A combination of large windows and a transparent perspex cabin roof provided

156-621: A final project in an unfamiliar aircraft at the end of their course as a graduation exercise and capstone project for their master's degree. Students who have attended the professional course or subsets of the full course at NTPS include pilots and engineers from more than 29 different organizations, including: Students attending courses other than the professional course come from hundreds of different organizations, including: 35°03′22″N 118°09′03″W  /  35.056218°N 118.150943°W  / 35.056218; -118.150943 De Havilland Dove The de Havilland DH.104 Dove

195-449: A high level of visibility from the cockpit. From a piloting perspective, the Dove was noted for possessing easy flying qualities and mild stall qualities. A TKS anti-icing system was available for the Dove, involving an alcohol -based jelly delivered via porous metal strips embedded on the leading edges of the wings and tail. The Dove first flew on 25 September 1945. In December 1946,

234-410: A self-study report documenting how well the program is meeting established accreditation criteria. The appropriate ABET commission appoints a team chair to lead the on-campus evaluation visit. The team chair and program evaluators (typically one per program requesting accreditation) are made up of volunteers from academia, government, industry, and private practice. During the visit to the institution,

273-408: A single aircraft lavatory and an aft luggage compartment could be removed to provide increased seating. Various specialised models were produced for other roles, such as aerial survey , air ambulance , and flying classroom . A strengthened cabin floor structure was used to enable concentrated freight loads to be carried as well. The Dove could also serve as an executive transport , and in such

312-598: Is a British short-haul airliner developed and manufactured by de Havilland . The design, which was a monoplane successor to the pre-war Dragon Rapide biplane , came about from the Brabazon Committee report which, amongst other aircraft types, called for a British-designed short-haul feeder for airlines. The Dove was a popular aircraft and is considered to be one of Britain's most successful postwar civil designs, with over 500 aircraft manufactured between 1946 and 1967. Several military variants were operated, such as

351-605: Is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology . The NTPS staff is highly experienced, both in flight testing and in instructing. About 15 full-time instructors and another 10 part-time, contract instructors are used. The typical instructor is a retired military officer, a graduate of a formal test pilot school, has a master's degree or higher, with over 15 years of flight test experience and 7+ years instructing experience with 5–10 years employment at

390-710: Is certified by the International Organization for Standardization . ISO 9000 family of quality management systems standards is designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while meeting statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. To become a licensed professional engineer , one common prerequisite is graduation from an Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET-accredited program. Requirements for professional engineer testing for EAC accredited programs vary from state to state. The Engineering Credential Evaluation International (ECEI)

429-563: Is initiated by the institution seeking accreditation. Accreditation is given to individual programs rather than to the institution as a whole. Re-evaluation is required every six years. Programs with no previous accreditation can request accreditation if they have produced at least one program graduate. Each program is assigned to one of four accreditation commissions within ABET based on the title. Each commission has different accreditation criteria: Programs conduct an internal evaluation and complete

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468-467: The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. , is a non-governmental accreditation organization for post-secondary programs in engineering, engineering technology, computing, and applied and natural sciences. As of October 2023, ABET had accredited 4,674 programs across 920 organizations in 42 countries. ABET also accredits online educational programs. In 1932, ABET

507-738: The Devon by the Royal Air Force and the Sea Devon by the Royal Navy , and the type also saw service with a number of overseas military forces. A longer four-engined development of the Dove, intended for use in the less developed areas of the world, was the Heron . A considerably re-designed three-engined variant of the Dove was built in Australia as the de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover . The development team for

546-574: The Gavin Lyall adventure novel Shooting Script . G-ARBH features in the 1962 film The Wrong Arm of the Law as the personal aeroplane of Peter Sellers ' character Pearly Gates. Near the beginning of the 1980 film Flash Gordon , travel agent Dale Arden and New York Jets quarterback Flash Gordon board a de Havilland Dove which subsequently crashes into a greenhouse adjacent to the secret laboratory of Dr. Hans Zarkov. The atmospheric disturbances that caused

585-511: The 1970s. The Biafran Air Force operated a single Dove during the Nigerian Civil War ; the aircraft was lost, to be subsequently found in 1970 on the premises of a school in Uli . A second US-registered Riley Dove, N477PM delivered in 1967 to Port Harcourt from Switzerland, never reached Biafra because it was stopped by Algerian authorities. A Dove served as the first official aircraft of

624-780: The Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment, CFB Cold Lake , Canada . The success of these courses led to opportunities to teach broader content flight test courses abroad. The school was formally established as a not-for-profit educational institute in California in April 1981. The initial years of the school consisted of teaching introductory courses within the United States, mainly for military organizations, and teaching longer courses abroad (in Israel , Taiwan , Brazil , and South Africa ) using customer aircraft. By 1986,

663-506: The Dove entered service with Central African Airways . Initial production of the Dove took place at de Havilland's Hatfield factory, but from 1951 the aircraft were built at the company's Broughton facility near Chester . The final example of the type was delivered in 1967. Production of the Dove and its variants totalled 544 aircraft, including two prototypes, 127 military-orientated Devon s and 13 Sea Devon s. From 1946, large numbers were sold to scheduled and charter airlines around

702-464: The Dove was headed by Ronald Bishop , the creator of the de Havilland Mosquito , a wartime fighter-bomber, and the de Havilland Comet , the first commercial jet aircraft in the world. It had been developed to meet the Type VB requirement issued by the Brabazon Committee . In concept, the Dove was developed to be the replacement of the pre-war Dragon Rapide . It was also required to be competitive with

741-504: The NTPS is the professional course, which is certified for EASA category 1. It is a one-year-long course covering performance, flying qualities, and avionics systems. Both test pilots and flight test engineers are trained. Portions of the course are specifically tailored for fixed or rotary-wing pilots and engineers. Subsets of the professional course, taught in conjunction with professional course students, are offered routinely: In addition to

780-414: The NTPS. Roughly half of the staff members are US citizens and half are international. The international backgrounds include Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Israel, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The president and CEO of the school is James Brown . The chairman of the board of trustees is Tom Morgenfeld. The NTPS routinely uses a fleet of approximately 34 aircraft (23 different types) located at

819-584: The United States in 1954. In excess of 50 Doves were sold to various operators in the United States by Jack Riley, an overseas distributor for the type. De Havilland later assumed direct control of U.S. sales, but did not manage to match this early commercial success for the type. An early batch of 30 Devons was delivered to the Royal Air Force and they were used as VIP and light transports for over 30 years. The Royal New Zealand Air Force acquired 30 Devons between 1948 and 1954, and these remained in service for VIP, crew-training and light transport duties into

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858-399: The aircraft's load-carrying capacity, safe engine-failure performance, and positive maintenance features. Considerable attention was paid to aspects of maintainability, many of the components being designed to be interchangeable and easy to remove or replace, such as the rudder , elevator , and power units; other areas include the mounting of the engines upon four quick-release pickup points,

897-707: The crash were instigated by planet Mongo's ruler Ming the Merciless. The crash sequence was filmed using a 30-inch-long model Dove diving into a miniature landscape. In season 2, episode 9 of the British TV series The Crown , Prince Philip is portrayed as flying a de Havilland Dove. Data from Flight International, Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1966–67, Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1967–68 General characteristics Performance Related development ABET ABET (pronounced A-bet) , formerly known as

936-476: The decision was made to construct a large hangar and classroom complex in Mojave, California. Over the ensuing years, more flight test training was done in Mojave with a growing fleet of aircraft, rather than at customer locations. Today, the school trains 10–30 students in year-long courses with about 200-300 students attending one of several short courses each year. In 2016, NTPS became the first test pilot school in

975-504: The entire course or simply stay for the chosen segment. A positive outcome of this approach is that every class has a combination of junior and senior students working together. In 1995, the NTPS was approved by the State of California to award master's degrees in flight test and evaluation. Since 2004, graduates meeting all of the requirements have been eligible for an accredited Master of Science degree in flight test engineering. This degree

1014-403: The evaluation team reviews program course materials and interacts with students and faculty, culminating in an exit interview with the dean. Following the team's visit, the institution is given 7 days to address any topics communicated during the exit interview. ABET provides an evaluation statement to the institution, who is given 30 more days to respond to any additional issues. ABET specifies

1053-446: The inputs (what material is taught) and to the outputs (what students learned). EC2000 stresses continuous improvement and accounts for specific missions and goals of the individual institutions and programs. The intention of this approach was to enable innovation in engineering programs rather than forcing all programs to conform to a standard, as well as to encourage new assessment processes and program improvements. ABET Accreditation

1092-601: The large numbers of surplus military transports in the aftermath of the Second World War , such as the Douglas DC-3 . Unlike the Dragon Rapide, the Dove's structure was entirely metal. It featured innovations including constant-speed propellers , flaps , and a retractable tricycle undercarriage . In 1946, aviation magazine Flight praised the qualities of the newly developed Dove, noting its "modernity" as well as

1131-405: The major elements that accredited engineering programs must have, including the program curricula, the faculty type and the facilities. However, in the mid-1990s, the engineering community began to question the appropriateness of such rigid accreditation requirements. After intense discussion, in 1997, ABET adopted Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC2000). The EC2000 criteria shifted the focus away from

1170-499: The minimum curriculum requirements for various engineering programs, including a capstone project and a design class. Because of the organization's involvement, engineering curricula are somewhat standardized across the bachelor's level. ABET is a federation of the following professional and technical member societies representing the fields of applied science, computing, engineering and engineering technology: For most of its history, ABET's accreditation criteria specifically outlined

1209-479: The other component, a course flow was adopted that allowed students to take either half first, or to only take the half that was most relevant to the sponsoring organization. This school schedules avionic systems always in the first half of the year and P&FQ in the second half. With an introductory module preceding each six-month segment. students can join a year-long course either in January or July and carry through

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1248-462: The professional course students came from foreign military organizations. These organizations generally had need for testing modifications to aircraft rather than testing of entirely new types of aircraft. As a consequence, avionics systems testing became more important and NTPS essentially broke the course into two major components - P&FQ testing, and avionic systems testing. A realization that one component did not, by itself, prepare students for

1287-415: The professional course, the school has nine regularly scheduled short courses of two to six weeks' duration. These include introductory courses in fixed and rotary wing P&FQ, avionics systems testing, operational test and evaluation, civil certification courses, night-vision systems, production flight testing, and a pretest pilot school course designed as a preparatory course for students planning to attend

1326-513: The professional course. The NTPS professional course curriculum initially followed the format and flow of the course taught at the US Air Force Test Pilot School . The content was divided among three major components - performance, flying qualities, and systems flight testing, with the flow of the course always was executed in that sequence. Due to customer feedback, that content and sequence were changed in 1999. The majority of

1365-478: The routing of cables and piping, and the detachable wings and tail cone. The extensive use of special Redux metal-bonding adhesives reduced the need for riveting during the manufacturing process, reducing overall weight and air-skin friction . While standard passenger versions of the Dove would carry between eight and eleven passengers, the cabin was designed to allow operators to convert between higher and lower density seating configurations. Features such as

1404-521: The school's campus at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California. The aircraft types are: Additionally, the school leases other, outside aircraft as needed. Professional course student test pilots typically fly 24 different types of aircraft during their one-year program, including four one-time qualitative evaluations in nonschool aircraft after the PF&;Q phase. All professional course students get

1443-608: The world to be certified as a Flight Test Authorised Training Organisation by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Today, NTPS trains military and civilian students from over 30 countries. In 2020, the OH-58C was retired from service at the NTPS. In 2023, NTPS acquired Flight Research Inc., a provider of flight training as well as aircraft maintenance. NTPS also announced a new not-for-profit business, Flight Research International LLC. The principal course taught at

1482-494: The world, replacing and supplementing the pre-war designed de Havilland Dragon Rapide and other older designs. The largest order for the Dove was placed by Argentina, which ultimately took delivery of 70 aircraft, the majority of which were used by the Argentine Air Force . LAN Chile took delivery of twelve examples and these were operated from 1949 onwards until the aircraft were sold to several small regional airlines in

1521-969: Was established as the American Engineers' Council for Professional Development (ECPD). The organization evaluated its first engineering program in 1936, and by 1947, 580 programs had been accredited across 133 institutions. In 1980, the ECPD changed its name to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. In 1985, the organization helped establish the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board ( CSAB ), one of ABET's largest member societies with over 300 programs. ABET began operating and doing business solely under their acronym in 2005, using “Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc.” as their corporate name only when required by law. The request for ABET accreditation

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