Originally Posted by
FL450
Lear and bombardier does do all their flight testing here and the cosswinds here aren't that bad. Bombardier has a position on their website or at least they did for Senior test pilot. I think all you needed was a type rating in at least one of their products which obviously you should qualify. Also check out Hawker Beech Craft they do a lot of testing as well out of ICT and beech field.
Best of luck
FL450
Hi everyone,
I am originally from Wichita and in regards to the orginal quesiton....when Bombardier purchased the LearJet manufacturing facility in 1990 they also started at flight-test facility there too. It exists for the entire Bombardier Aerospace product line. Over the years I have seen all of the CRJ series, Q400, 415 fire-bomber, Challenger 300, etc, out flying around Wichita. Now that I think about it, I remember being home from college on the summer day in 1993 when one of the original CRJ test aircraft went down west of town, unfortunately taking several lives. Anyway, it is/was the third largest civilian flight test center in the world (after Boeing and Airbus).
In regards to the other manufactures in the area...Hawker Beech and Cessna also have their production flight-test centers at BEC and ICT, respectively. However both manufactures have recently announced significant layoffs. I would be very surprised if either will be hiring any pilots for a long time. Of course those jobs require that you live in Wichita...easy for Kansans but perhaps not for the west coast folks!