<p>What are the opinions out there about the following:</p>
<p>If one of your goals is to go to test pilot school, would it matter if you majored in Aeronautical vs. Astronautical Engineering? Are there any other majors that would be worth considering?</p>
<p>TPS is a considerable accomplishment. Aero and Astro would be good majors, along with EE and Systems Engineering. Any technical major should work well.</p>
<p>on the academy website, the description for the astro major specifically says that this major fulfills the requirements for the test pilot school, whereas the aero major description does not specifically say that. that doesn't mean that being an aero major won't fulfull the requirements, i just thought that it was interesting. </p>
<p>on the other hand, however, i told that getting a "too technical" major like astro might hurt rather than help and aero might be a better choice.</p>
<p>i'm still not sure- in fact, i'm still trying to find out, but that's what i have heard about the two.</p>
<p>honestly, your major does not have a huge influence other than it MUST be a TECHNICAL major. from there, many other factors are much more important, such as OPR (officer performance reports), GPAs, how well you did in UPT, etc.</p>
<p>there was even an OR (Operations Research) grad who recnetly went through TPS, but i hear he was a super-officer</p>
<p>ahhhh, good to see eagle is still posting....He's at Annapolis lounging around for the semester and the rest of us are in class...As is life! Have fun bud</p>
<p>oh, i am. enjoying my last couple days of summer 'freedom' (at navy) before classes start wednesday. tis nice. enjoy y'alls semester!</p>
<p>And I already have a 4-6 page essay due Thursday. I hate you. ;)</p>
<p>erg...navy :(</p>
<p>how would someone become a flight test engineer? how competitive is it to go that route? more so than test pilot?</p>
<p>to bump or not to bump...</p>
<p>Well doesn't a test pilot have supreme knowledge of flying mechanics down to the nuts and bolts? Doesn't that pretty much make him an engineer?</p>
<p>not really. you come out of tps as a test pilot, test navigator (dont know the current terminology), or a flight test engineer.</p>
<p>how would someone become a flight test engineer? how competitive is it to go that route? more so than test pilot?</p>
<p>"Experimental flight test engineer and civilian applicants are required to undergo a flying Class III physical." Just read that here:</p>
<p>If its talking about an FAA class III physical then that means they don't even have to see 20/20 and therefore don't fly. I believe flight test engineers are the genius number crunchers on the ground. As for competitiveness, you can probably bet it is an extremely desired position. Please correct me if I'm wrong because this is just speculation.</p>
<p>You'll probably find that interesting as well.</p>