Congressman Kevin McCarthy visits NTPS as part of a tour of the Mojave Air and Space Port on 05/13/14. During the brief stop he was able to visit with numerous constituents that work at NTPS and see some of the new aircraft that have been added to the school's fleet.
BY JOYCE GRANT, FROM MOJAVE DESERT NEWS
MOJAVE – At the July 16 board meeting of the Mojave Air and Space Port, Dr. Allen Peterson reported on the success of Flight Test Camp, which was held at the National Test Pilot School (NTPS) located on airport grounds.
Peterson, a board director and President/CEO of NTPS, stated that the school made a substantial investment in the training of several local high school students who attended the inaugural flight test camp (FTC) from July 8 through 13.
A three-day reduced version of the FTC will be offered for teachers from the schools involved before the end of the year, said Peterson, who called the camp an unqualified success which drew great praise from students, parents, and educators.
The NTPS goal for FTC was to introduce and excite young people about flight test engineering as a possible course of study/career path, to highlight potential career opportunities in flight test and engineering available in local high tech organizations, and to put a boost into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programs at local schools.
The National Test Pilot School Announces the Successful Completion of the Inaugural NTPS Flight Test Camp for Local High School Students
MOJAVE, CA – (July 15, 2013) – The National Test Pilot School (NTPS) today announced the completion of the inaugural flight test camp (FTC) for local high school students. The camp, held from 8-13 July 2013, was an unqualified success and drew great praise from students, parents, and educators alike according to Dr. AL Peterson NTPS President &CEO. “The students tell me the flight test camp was a great success and we agree so we plan to do it again next year.” stated Peterson. The NTPS goal for FTC was to introduce and excite young people about flight test engineering as a possible course of study/career path, to highlight potential career opportunities in flight test and engineering available in local high tech organizations, and to put a boost into STEM programs at the local schools. The five and a half day camp was conducted at the NTPS facilities at the Mojave Air and Space Port (MASP) providing STEM focused training to a total of 11 students from Mojave, Rosamond, California City, and Tehachapi high schools. The course included flights in the twin-turbine Merlin Flying Laboratory; flights in six different aircraft and systems simulators, instruction in a variety of flight test engineering academic classes, and tours of high-tech businesses at MASP to include Fiberset, Incotec, XCOR, Virgin Galactic, and Scaled Composites. The camp finished up on Saturday morning with briefing and tour for the student’s families and school officials, a test pilot and flight test engineer Q&A panel, an award ceremony for the students, and a BBQ for everyone in attendance. NTPS Director of Business Operations and Camp Director Mr. Mike Hill commented “I was very impressed with these young people. They really embraced the course, asked lots of good questions, and participated in everything. We have a lot of potential future engineers in this group!”
About NTPS
NTPS is a not-for-profit civilian educational institute located and incorporated in the State of California. The School was established in 1981 to meet the flight test training needs of both the U.S. and international aerospace communities. NTPS students and customers come from a variety of backgrounds including military organizations, the aerospace industry, governments, certification agencies, and even private citizens. NTPS is the only civilian test pilot school in the United States.
Contact
For further inquiries, please contact:
Dr. Allen L. Peterson
President & CEO
NTPS
P.O. Box 658
Mojave, CA 93502
661-824-2977
Legacy Videos (2013): Overview / NTPS Instructors / NTPS Aircraft / NTPS Curriculum / NTPS Facilities
By Shawn Coyle (Full article on Verticalmag.com)
This article begins with a disclaimer: although the title refers to an old dog, its not really fair to call the Bell CH-135 (UH-1N) Twin Huey a dog. It was a solid reliable workhorse, borne of a family of helicopters that transformed both rotary-wing aviation and military operations. Of course, its also the same machine I cut my helicopter teeth on, and its incredibly difficult to say bad things about your first operational helicopter type (I know Ive tried to break lots of student test pilots of that habit, and it dies hard!).
But I digress. The particular old dog Im talking about is also an old friend: N212TP, a former Canadian Forces CH-135 (previous registration 135103) that I first flew in 1977. Thirty-five years later, its been equipped with new toys, and earlier this year I found myself at the National Test Pilot School (NTPS) in Mojave, Calif. getting ready to test them out.
Teaching for the Test
First, some background information on NTPS. This unique school is one of the few places in the world where you can go to fly a whole variety of different aircraft and learn how to evaluate their performance and handling in a structured, careful manner. This is not the same thing as simply learning how to fly. For example, as Ive mentioned previously (see p.116, Vertical, June-July 2012), part of the process involves convincing students that, if they are unable to fly a maneuver accurately, the problem is almost certainly in the machine, rather than themselves. Learning how to look for faults in the machine is not an easy process, but its necessary if one is to evaluate equipment for either military operations or civil certification.