USAF Test Pilot School sends new grads out into test world Published Dec. 10, 2014 By Kenji Thuloweit EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Twenty-four students of Class 14A will be graduating from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School during a ceremony at the school house Dec. 12 where each student will be awarded a Master of Science in Flight Test Engineering from the Air Force's Air University. TPS graduation is the culmination of an intense, 48-week program that includes more than 2,500 hours of academics and approximately 120 hours of in-flight training; transforming top operational pilots, navigators and engineers into elite flight test professionals. Students put in about six hours per day of instructor contact time, not including academic and flight preparation time. The guest speaker for the graduation is Dr. George Kailiwai III, who is the Headquarters, U.S. Pacific Command Director of Resources and Assessment Directorate. Kailiwai leads PACOM in the strategic assessment process, facilitates the development of command requirements and translates those requirements into material and non-material solutions through advocacy, science and technology, innovation and experimentation. Before being appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2007, Kailiwai, then an Air Force colonel, served as the TPS's commandant from January 2001 through June 2003. He then remained at Edwards AFB where he served as the Air Force Flight Test Center's (now Air Force Test Center) chief technology officer and technical advisor. TPS Class 14A grads will now be integrated into teams throughout the flight test enterprise and begin shaping the technology and weapon systems of the future for the Air Force, sister services and allied nations. During the final six months of the year at TPS, students demonstrated knowledge of curriculum objectives through the planning and execution of test management projects, which are real-world test programs done for a customer. The United States Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) is where the Air Force's top pilots, navigators and engineers learn how to conduct flight test and generate the data needed to carry out test missions. Human lives and millions of dollars depend upon how carefully a test mission is planned and flown. The comprehensive curriculum of Test Pilot School is fundamental to the success of flight test and evaluation. Upon graduating from TPS, graduates will have earned a Master of Science Degree in Flight Test Engineering. Read more about the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School here: http://www.edwards.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=6467.