This is a section that I extracted from the 2007-2008 TPS Course Guide. A bit lengthy, but cool knowing that it exists. I'm guessing the job would fall under the Test Mgmt section, but the current guy said he got to fly in a number of aircraft. I'm guessing that the curriculum has probably changed a bit over the past 4-5 years.


Short Courses Offered at the Test Pilot School
Historically the Test Pilot School has taught two eleven-month long courses each year. Recently however, in response to the needs of the aerospace community TPS has began teaching short courses. These classes stem from the same material taught to the full-time students, but focus on a more limited while still well rounded curriculum to maximize education in the time allotted. The structure and execution of these courses are diverse and flexible by nature. This allows customization of the course to fulfill specific customer requirements. Each of the current offerings is detailed throughout this brochure. Please note that some of these courses require a tuition fee. The costs are dependent on the scope of the course, resources used, and the number of students attending.

Aerospace Vehicle Test Course
The course is intended to educate USAF engineers to plan, provision, execute, and report on testing of the next generation of USAF space vehicles. The course consists of approximately 80 hours of academics supplemented with projects, simulation, fieldtrips, and flying. Attendees must either have a degree in Aeronautical, Aerospace, or Astronautical Engineering, or have considerable experience in one of these fields. A general working knowledge of these areas is assumed. The duration of this course is one month.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flight Test Engineering
This course is intended to educate and train personnel on the various aspects of flight testing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV), and Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPV). It is aimed at those new to UAV testing, or those in need of a refresher. A basic knowledge of Flight Test is assumed. The course is 3 weeks long, and consists of approximately 40 hours of academics focusing on systems, system of systems, and interoperability. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to operate EO/IR and radar labs, fly a simulated Global Hawk mission, and fly a BAT 3 UAV mission to collect data for a test report.

Electronic Warfare Flight Test Engineering
This introductory Electronic Warfare course consists of 20 hours of academics and two flight test sorties. This course is targeted to those new to EW flight testing and to those in need of a refresher. The course will cover the necessary background material, and then cover EW flight test issues. The first 4 hours will be an overview of EW and an introduction to Electro-optical, Infrared Weapons, and counter-measures. The next 12 hours consist of an introduction to radio propagation, receivers, emitters, ECM concepts, and jamming techniques. The last 4 hours of academics cover the flight test techniques used in EW flight testing, EW OT&E, and AFFTC EW capabilities. The course also includes labs on the academic topics. The course finishes with two EW flight sorties flown against the IFAST.

Test Management
The target audience of this course is testers new to the T&E community. For the most part, the course is intended for non-TPS graduates, although TPS graduates who have returned to conduct T&E after a prolonged absence could take this course as a "refresher." The primary objective of this course is to tie together the entire T&E process. This top down approach begins with the purpose of T&E, continues with flight test techniques (FTTs), and ends with a flight test report written by the student. The student will receive the flight training and acquire data for a flight test report in a glider at the Mountain Valley airport in Tehachapi, CA or in a Cessna 172 at the Edwards AFB Aero Club.

Equations of Motion
The goal of this course is to help students grasp the basic equations of motion of aircraft and also understand the simplifications used that make the equations feasible. Academic subjects include the stability derivatives and the classical modes of motion in lateral-directional and longitudinal directions. Two glider sorties will be flown out of the Mountain Valley Airport in Tehachapi, CA during which students will receive flight training and acquire data for a flight test report on the classical modes of motion.

Propulsion
This course is targeted as an introduction or refresher for personnel working with Air Force propulsion. Block 1 of this course will address USAF engine readiness. Block 2 will cover propulsion basics. Blocks 3, 4, and 5, will address performance trends and testing, cycle analysis, engine components (inlets, fans, compressors, combustors, turbines, afterburners, and nozzles). The course wraps up with Block 6, operability and controls.

Senior Executive Course
The target audience for this course is senior civilian government officials and General officers not familiar with the flight test community and its practices. This is a 3-day course that introduces the student to developmental flight test basics, mission conduct, and operational envelope expansion testing. Each day consists of academics followed by a sortie to practice hands-on the theory taught in the classroom. A T-38 sortie is used to demonstrate the flight test basics portion of the course. A first-flight scenario is flown in a C-12 and is used to demonstrate how teamwork is used for successful mission conduct in the test execution part of a test program. Lastly, an F-16 limit-cycle-oscillation sortie is flown with the student to demonstrate an operational envelope expansion test mission, and to demonstrate the cooperation necessary between the flight test crew and a control room team.