Description
US Navy Test Pilot School Patch — Where Astronauts Got Their Start
If you survived, you became a test pilot. Now there’s a school for that.
The United States Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, is where the Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, and allied nations send their best pilots and engineers to learn the science and art of flight test and evaluation. Established in 1945 when the Navy’s Flight Test Group transferred from NAS Anacostia to Pax River, USNTPS has evolved from what started as a twelve-week night school into an intensive 11-month program that produces the military’s premier developmental test professionals. The school is the only U.S. military test pilot school offering rotary-wing instruction, making it the primary training pipeline for Army test pilots as well. USNTPS has graduated nearly 100 NASA astronauts, including legends like Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Wally Schirra, Jim Lovell, and Senator Mark Kelly. The curriculum puts students through rigorous academics and hands-on flight testing across multiple aircraft types, producing the master thinkers who evaluate every aircraft the Navy and Marine Corps fly.
Perfect For: USNTPS graduates and staff, NAS Patuxent River personnel, developmental test pilots across all services, flight test engineers, and anyone who knows that the path to the stars runs through Pax River.
USNTPS — because everything is awesome when you’ve got the right test data.
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