The National Test Pilot School (NTPS) is an accredited institution of higher education and offers Master of Science degrees in Flight Test Engineering (MSFTE) and Flight Test and Evaluation (MSFT&E).  Students who have an undergraduate engineering degree from an ABET or equivalent university program are eligible to receive the MSFTE degree. Students with other backgrounds are eligible for the MSFT&E degree.  The MSFTE degree is also accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org, under the General Criteria.

Within a few years of graduation, NTPS Master of Science in Flight Test Engineering alumni can be expected to:

• Demonstrate increasingly highly specialized communications skills required to execute safety-critical tests in flight and in the control room.
• Successfully integrate the roles of a Flight Test Engineer throughout the aircraft/system design, development, and testing process.
• Validate the airworthiness and mission capability of an air vehicle and/or system.
• Attain positions with increasing responsibilities in managing developmental flight test projects.
• Advance the flight test and evaluation discipline through reports, professional papers, journal articles, and/or symposia presentations.

Students graduating with the Master of Science in Flight Test Engineering degree from NTPS are expected to attain:

1. Mastery in the analysis of complex engineering problems and subdivision into less complex tasks.
2. Mastery of effective communications in a high workload, technically complex, interdisciplinary environment, while maintaining sound and supportive working relations with clients, partners, and leaders.
3. Mastery of team leadership where all members create a collaborative and inclusive environment, determine goals, plan tasks, and achieve objectives subject to limited resources and stringent deadlines while ensuring safe practices.
4. An ability to develop new experimentation approaches, determination of alternate paths, and employment of a wide variety of tools to analyze and interpret data, while applying engineering judgment to reach conclusions that uphold and improve safety within the flight test community and the broader aerospace industry.
5. Mastery of the evaluation of engineering test data and outcomes, their comparison to learned theory and concepts, and reporting of well-evidenced findings in a logical, accurate, and concise manner.
6. Mastery of trend recognition in the performance and behavior of an engineering system, to include interdependencies of subsystems and sound recommendations about its use based on engineering methodology.
7. Mastery of engineering design to define iterative processes to produce recommendations to meet an evolving set of requirements with consideration of safety, as well as environmental, and economic factors.
8. Mastery of the identification and characterization of risks associated with engineering test activities and proper management of them in a real-world context.
9. Mastery of discernment and adaptation of new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies and evaluation methods.

The prerequisites for enrollment in the Master's programs are a Baccalaureate degree in engineering, physical or computer science, mathematics, technical management, or related subject. Students presenting other credentials will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

In order to graduate, students must take the core curriculum and select a specialty track to complete (FW/RW Performance & Flying Qualities or Systems). See the NTPS Catalog to view the various track options.

The culmination of the master’s degree is the capstone project. This project serves as a comprehensive project that covers much of the material taught during the entire course. The capstone project can consist of the traditional test pilot school flying project, a flight test related research project, or other flight test related specialized projects. The student will submit a capstone project proposal to the Chief Academic Officer and obtain approval prior to starting the capstone project.

Scheduled course dates are listed on the NTPS website under Information - Course Schedule and Costs. Course descriptions are available through the course links on the website and in the NTPS catalog.

A typical course module is 5 days long with 6-8 hours of class per day. A written exam is normally taken on the last day of the course.

All tuition and fees as specified in US Dollars (USD). The minimum charge for attendance and completing a master’s degree in the NTPS (2024) is valued at approximately $46,775 USD at the current date. This charge is also estimated as the total charges for the entire master’s degree educational program. A detailed example breakdown of the charges (price for the year 2024) can be found below.

For more detailed information about tuition and fees, contact Student Services at (661) 824-2977 or by email at studentservices@ntps.edu.

• T&E 4001 Fundamentals of Flight Test
• T&E 4002 Test Management / Operational Test and Evaluation
• T&E 4003 Capstone Project
• T&E 4007 Introduction to FW P&FQ Testing
• T&E 4008 Introduction to Systems Testing
• T&E 4017 Introduction to RW P&FQ

• T&E 4201 Avionics Systems Flight Testing
• T&E 4202 Communications, Navigation, and GPS Flight Testing
• T&E 4203 CFR 14 Part 23/25/27/29 Avionics Certification Flight Testing
• T&E 4204 Flight Test of RADAR and Electronic Warfare Systems
• T&E 4205 UAV Systems Test
• T&E 4206 Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground Weapons Integration
• T&E 4207 Electro-Optic and Infrared Systems Flight Testing
• T&E 4208 NVG & HMD Testing