Book description
Test pilots - dashing and courageous young men or foolhardy gamblers?
In this fully illustrated book written by the producer of the BBC1
television series of the same name, we follow the ups and downs of a
group of trainee test pilots at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire.
Beginning with the exacting selection procedure, we discover what
personal and professional qualities a pilot needs in order to become a
test pilot. Only six UK and twelve foreign students are chosen each
year and, once selected, the pressure on them steadily mounts. As the
students learn to push each aircraft's performance to its limits they,
too, are being mentally and physically stretched further than ever
before. Training is given on both fixed - and rotary - wing aircraft
and by the end of the course each student is fully conversant with the
different techniques necessary to fly each type. They learn how to
recover safely from spins, how to cope with sudden failures of
equipment in mid-flight and how to land an aircraft with no power. All
the time, they are assessing each aircraft's capabilities and the
scope of the on-board technology. The final part of the course is the
'preview exercise' when every student is required to evaluate an
aircraft he has never flown before and to make a formal presentation
to his tutors and examiners.
Using a number of remarkably frank interviews with students and
tutors, Brian Johnson explores the process of becoming a test pilot
and reveals both the stresses and successes of the year. The RAF has
given its full support to both the book and the television programmes
and thus has enabled Brian Johnson to produce a unique and
authoritative account of the training for one of the most responsible
and exciting jobs in modern aviation.
Brian Johnson originally joined the BBC as an engineer. He spent
three years with the army, being trained in radar 'in time to celebrate
VE Day', and was then posted to the Middle East where he ran a Forces
Broadcasting transmitter. On demobilization he returned to the BBC,
joining the Television Service in 1951, becoming a film cameraman and
then a producer with outside broadcasters, directing programmes as
different as sport and music. Now with BBC TV Science Features, he
writes and produces documentaries.
