The ETPS syllabus offers a comprehensive range of dedicated fixed-wing and rotary aircraft courses that are taught in state-of-the-art facilities, using a modern fleet and digital teaching systems. Delivered by highly experienced instructors who are globally recognised for their expertise, our modular courses for Test Pilots, Flight Test Engineers, Un-crewed Aircraft Systems Test and Evaluator Aircrew cover experimental, development and systems testing.
Our fleet of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft have all been extensively modified with the latest flight test instrumentation so students are equipped with the skills, insight and know-how to succeed as flight test professionals.
Students are put through a robust programme of test and evaluation training designed to meet the complex demands of modern developmental flight test programmes. Key focus areas include developing flying and engineering skills, practising critical thinking and learning to take a broad perspective to distil and communicate useful findings.
Since it was established in 1943, ETPS has trained over 1500 students from 32 different countries and continues to be one of the world-leading test pilot schools.
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Founded on experiential learning and collaborative working, our modular training programmes combine classroom instruction, a wide variety of practical exercises on the ground and applied exercises in the air.
Designed to build experience quickly, our intensive courses ensure that graduates leave ETPS as highly skilled professionals who are ready to deliver powerful strategic and commercial advantage through programmes that:
Graduates from our military courses are qualified to build operational capability from the outset; maximising the performance and capabilities of air platforms and supporting the commissioning of high value acquisitions whilst ensuring the safety of personnel.
Our courses for civilian test professionals prepare students to drive commercial value from the word ‘go’. They are immediately able to manage flight test programmes that optimise aircraft and systems design, accelerate time to market, safely assess the operational bounds of platforms for their unique roles (in military and civilian operations) and ensure full regulatory compliance.
As well as courses that cover experimental, development, and systems flight-test, we also run refresher courses in key subjects, providing tailored training for specialist tasks or to upgrade existing qualifications (for example EASA Cat 2 to Cat 1).
ETPS is recognised as an Approved Training Organisation (ATO) by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which enables the school to deliver a cost-effective, EASA-only option for our Test Pilot and Flight Test Engineer long courses. For those studying for a military flight test qualification awarded by ETPS, our courses are also recognised by the UK’s Military Aviation Authority (MAA).
At the end of a successful completion of both EASA Cat 1, or Military Cat A, students will be granted an MSc qualification from Cranfield university, the leading aerospace university in the UK.
Our aircraft have all been modified to meet both military and civil requirements.
Innovative glass cockpits have built-in Flight Test Instrumentation suites to provide live flight data and enable realistic training scenarios. These enable training in specialist test techniques such as air-to-ground radar testing and the replication of entire sorties in the classroom for debrief and further study.
Our test pilots and engineers gain experience with many types of military and civil aircraft, across the full spectrum of performance. These include the Pilatus PC-21, Grob G120TP, Avro Regional Jet (RJ), AW139, A109, Airbus H125, and – uniquely for a flight test school – a fourth generation fighter aircraft, currently Eurofighter Typhoon. Students also have access to a custom-built flight simulator.
Whilst ETPS’s fleet at MOD Boscombe Down is civilian registered, students will travel around the world as part of the course to fly military types, such as the F16, CH-47, AH-64 and the NH90, They also learn to test on civilian platforms, such as when they fly from Airbus’s facility in France, thus providing a wide range of challenging aircraft, coupled with front-line operational aircraft.
All primary training platforms at ETPS have a fully bespoke Flight Test Instrumentation (FTI) suite specially developed to support learning. Through a live telemetry feed to the ground station, the system provides detailed data that can be used in our classroom analysis software, GDAS (Graphical Data Analysis Software), which was custom-designed by QinetiQ. As all the FTI modification are civil CAA Supplementary Type Certificate (STC) approved, student pilots are allowed to ‘fly solo’, either truly on their own, or with a student FTE.. This represents the real-world experience expected of students when they successfully complete the ETPS course.
Our Avro RJ70 airborne test facility allows us to train entire classes from the air, with live readouts of parameters for flight test engineers and pilots from a fully bespoke FTI suite with both in-cockpit and in-cabin operation.
Synthetics and simulation are an essential element of any modern test & evaluation programme and ETPS continues to develop and deliver innovative capabilities specifically designed to enhance flight test training.
We use a broad range of synthetics and simulators across the globe to deliver our courses with everything from desktop simulators supporting familiarisation activities, through task specific synthetics exercises, all the way up to state-of-the-art flying simulators allowing a single aircraft to represent a vast array of platform types.
These synthetic capabilities provide a tailored approach to simulation that allows us to maximise understanding of learning outcomes and increase training efficiency to reduce the time required to reach full comprehension of techniques.
Instructors are the most important element to the success of any school and at ETPS we have a diverse and highly experienced team of Test Pilots, Flight Test Engineers, and academics with hundreds of years of combined experience in the field to draw upon when developing and delivering courses.
Amongst our flight test instructors, you will find world-renowned experts in their respective fields from across both military organisations and civil industry who are frequently called upon to advise upon and deliver the latest flight test programmes.
If you think you have the qualifications and the personality to train the next generation of flight test professionals from around the world, we’d love to hear from you. Please email etpssales@qinetiq.com with your CV/resumé with approval to retain your personal information on file.
The ETPS Learning Management System (LMS) was the first system of its kind in the world and enables a truly modern and adaptive learning environment with a full suite of interactivity tools.
Based on industry-leading software, and extensively customised by QinetiQ to meet the bespoke needs of ETPS, the system provides students with the means to work collaboratively with one another and their syndicate instructors.
The LMS allows us to offer distance learning opportunities for our students meaning we can minimise the time required away from regular duties to optimise learning efficiency..
Courses at ETPS provide flight test professionals with the skills and competencies required to safely and effectively conduct all forms of test flying, including civil certification and military release to service programmes.
For both Test Pilots and Flight Test Engineers we offer three levels of graduate courses – Class A/CAT 1 and Class B/CAT 2 – with all students completing a common foundation in Test & Evaluation (T&E) before specialising in either fixed-wing (fast-jet or multi-engine) or rotary-wing aircraft.
By completing a Class A course over the course of 50 weeks, Test Pilots and Flight Test Engineers are qualified to conduct experimental, ‘outside the envelope’ test flying. Graduating this course enables flight test professionals to lead both first-of-type and envelope expansion activities. Our Class A qualification also provides graduates with an EASA CAT 1 Flight Test Rating. For civil customers, ETPS offers a cost- and time-effective civil-only qualification which provides an EASA CAT 1 Flight Test Rating in 44 weeks.
ETPS’s Class B course qualifies Test Pilots and Engineers to conduct developmental test flying and is delivered in approximately 26 weeks. This qualification enables aircrew to command ‘inside the envelope’ test flying or assist in experimental test flying. Our Class B qualification also provides graduates with an EASA CAT 2 Flight Test Rating. As with our Class A, ETPS offer civil customers an efficient civil-only qualification which provides an EASA CAT 2 rating in 24 weeks for rotary-wing, and 30 weeks for fixed-wing students.
Our bridging course supports the prerequisites for an existing Class B / Cat 2 flight test professional to integrate with the advance phase of the ETPS course to achieve Class A or CAT 1 standard, enabling them to deliver complex flight test programmes for experimental aircraft or activities. Taught the full advanced range of test techniques and analytics required for practically assessing the performance to specification of experimental aircraft, attendees will also be capable of planning, operating and reporting on multifaceted appraisal exercises.
Designed for UAS operators, the course equips the student with the skills and competencies of flight test practitioners to enable them to lead UAS test teams, meet the unique operational demands of UASs, and to work with industry in the rapidly evolving UAS sector.
The core of the course is the airborne assessment of systems through access to crewed and uncrewed platforms with a variety of aircraft and mission systems. The expertise developed within this course are extensively practised in the world of UAS and crewed platforms and have been specifically selected for the course.
In addition to our graduate courses, ETPS offers a range of short courses for both new and qualified flight test professionals. These courses range from an introduction to T&E for personnel engaged in more operational evaluation, through to advanced courses for existing test pilots and engineers to either expand their existing qualification or refresh advanced techniques ahead of trials work.
This is the first rung on the ladder and is conducted over the period of an intense week. It offers all of the same principles of T&E but with less depth and is designed to equip students with an understanding of the reasons why T&E is so important.
The course is designed to introduce a practitioner’s level of knowledge of T&E principles and of the techniques to aircrew who are selected to join Test and Evaluation Squadrons, primarily to conduct operational evaluation flying. Aircrew who complete this practical course will have a grounding in the T&E environment, including:
This two-week practical course provides Test Pilots and Flight Test Engineers with the necessary knowledge to carry out complex helicopter/ship interface trials, including the establishment of Ship/Helicopter Operating Limits (SHOLs). It is also suitable for non-Test Pilots and non-Flight Test Engineers who will be closely involved in future Helicopter Ship Interface Training trials to enable them to become familiar with the techniques used in support of SHOL development activity.
These bespoke courses aim to refresh a qualified flight test professional’s skills in both test techniques and analytical methods, in addition to the associated theory, to restore currency in essential fields ahead of a major trials programme. These courses can also be delivered to teams to enable your key team members to re-establish collaborative working skills for the flight test environment.
The ETPS Maintenance Test Flying (MTF) course is designed for flight crews selected to carry out MTF as directed under UK Military Aviation Authority Regulations and equivalents. The majority of the course is generic in nature to broaden the scope and allow inclusion of wider regulations, practise and experience and is appropriate for crews performing similar activity under civilian regulation. Target trainees are those required to plan, fly and report on MTFs and also those in a supervisory and/or authorisation capacity.
If you have a unique challenge in either flight test or complex missions, we will be pleased to support your activities by developing bespoke training packages that help to ensure your aircrews and supporting teams are suitably prepared to deliver the required outcomes in a safe, efficient, and effective manner.
Other short courses include:
To discover more about our courses and how we can shape your flight test professionals, please contact us.
ETPS is delivered by a highly-trained and experienced cadre of flight test pilot, engineers, and academic instructors.
If you think you have the qualifications and the personality to train the next generation of flight test professionals from around the world, we’d love to hear from you.
Please email etpssales@qinetiq.com with your CV/resumé with approval to retain your personal information on file.
