Have you ever wondered what a test pilot does? Or why we even still need them? In this talk Dave will explore the reality of a test pilot’s job. He’ll describe the wide variety of activities which fall under the heading of ‘flight test’ and he’ll explain why test pilots remain in demand by civilian and military organisations. He’ll tell us how test pilots are trained, and he’ll illustrate his talk with real world stories of test programmes which he’s been involved in over the years. He’ll also talk about a few of the interesting aircraft he’s encountered along the way.
Dave Best is one of the UK’s most experienced test pilots. Starting out as a fighter pilot flying the Phantom and the Tornado, he completed test pilot training in 1989 at the Empire Test Pilots’ School (ETPS), Boscombe Down. Over the years he then held a variety of military flight test roles including Tornado project test pilot, Commander of ETPS and MOD Chief Test Pilot. Interspersed with the flying, Dave held a number of staff roles and also completed several operational deployments, culminating in a job as NATO’s Air Operations Director in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was responsible the planning and conduct of coalition air operations. After leaving the RAF, Dave co-founded Nova Systems International, an aerospace engineering and flight test company with EASA design and flight test approvals. He worked at Nova for 10 years as a Director, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Test Pilot. On retiring from the company in 2022 he had intended to retire completely but seems to have found himself back in full time flying. He now works as a test pilot instructor at ETPS and as an Advanced Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) Instructor at CRM Aviation Europe…..it’s better than being made to dig the garden.
David Best (pilot) – Wikipedia
