Test Pilot : An Extraordinary Career Testing Civil Aircraft - Chris Taylor

Test Pilot

An Extraordinary Career Testing Civil Aircraft

By: Chris Taylor

Hardcover | 30 April 2022

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Having flown an astonishing 400 different aircraft, as a licensed Category 1 test pilot and flight test instructor for both aeroplanes and helicopters, Chris Taylor is arguably one of the best qualified and widely experienced test pilots working today anywhere in the world. After obtaining his private pilot's licence at the age of just 17, Chris began his service flying career with the Royal Navy. He duly flew Wasp and Lynx helicopters from warships around the world under all kinds of circumstances. After five years instructing, the author then became a test pilot flying numerous types of experimental aircraft for research and development purposes, before returning to the Empire Test Pilot's School as a tutor.

Having served at Boscombe Down for 10 years he joined the UK's Civil Aviation Authority as an aeroplane and rotorcraft test pilot. With the closure of the CAA's Flight Test Department, he went on to form his own company and has continued to test fly a wide variety of aircraft ever since. Rather than just the usual cutting-edge fast jets one associates with test pilots, Chris Taylor's book covers general aviation aircraft, including testing homebuilt aeroplanes, helicopters and autogyros. It also features the testing of ex-military jets and warbirds such as the Fieseler Storch, Sea Fury, Spitfire and the Mustang. As the author is someone who teaches test pilots how to become flight test instructors, the reader is privileged to be able to share in, quite literally, the ups and downs of aviation testing with one of the foremost test pilots of his era. Somehow, he still manages to find time to be a helicopter examiner and instructor for helicopters, aeroplanes and autogyros.

While Test Pilot will appeal to pilots of every era, it is particularly aimed at the general reader, who will be taken on a journey across the skies in almost every conceivable type of civil aircraft involving almost every imaginable flying incident.

32 colour and 100 b/w illustrations

About the Author

Having wanted to be a pilot for as long as he can remember, Chris Taylor gained his private pilot's licence at the age of 17. He joined the Royal Navy whilst studying for a degree in Electrical Engineering and, after serving as a Navigation Officer on numerous ships, went onto to operate Wasp and Lynx helicopters. After five years instructing, he became a Test Pilot and flew all manner of experimental aircraft for research and development purposes before returning to the Empire Test Pilot's School as a Tutor. Having served at Boscombe Down for ten years he joined the UK Civil Aviation Authority as an aeroplane and rotorcraft test pilot.

With the closure of the CAA's Flight Test Department, he formed Dovetail Aviation Ltd and has continued to test fly a wide variety of aircraft ever since. Chris has flown 400 different kinds of aircraft, is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and is a licensed Category 1 Test Pilot and Flight Test Instructor for both aeroplanes and helicopters, which arguably makes him one of the best qualified and most widely experienced test pilots working today.
Industry Reviews
"...a fascinating and highly readable book."-- "Aviation History Magazine"
"...[Taylor] writes so well of his experiences, combining suitably explained detail of the sometimes 'hairy' moments of test flying with a good story line, the whole observed with gloriously British wit."-- "Aeroplane"
"...provides a good overview of flight-testing challenges."-- "Air & Space Power History"
"Chris tells his tales like he talks; modestly but amusingly, describing in detail what he sees and experiences. It's as if the reader is sitting on a bar stool, drink close by, while being regaled with amusingly gripping stories of flight test derring-do. "-- "Cockpit Magazine"

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