Throughout this website, you will see mention of “Qual Evals”. “What are they and why?” you may be asking.
Test Pilot Schools use their Qualitative Evaluation (or “Qual Eval” for short) for two overarching reasons: (1) to build skills in terms for planning a flight test, preparing to fly a new-to-the-student aircraft, conducting the testing, and then reporting on the results of their flight(s) and (2) to build “Adaptability”. Adaptability is the fundamental skill that test pilots learn that allows them to carefully approach new situations. The best way to instill this skill is by putting them in the position of having to adapt to new situations (I.e. new aircraft) over and over during their training. In this way, they will learn how to approach these new situations, how to safely and efficiently handle what might be an overwhelming experience for pilots not trained to adpat. This is one of the reasons why students at USNTPS (and the other schools are similar) fly 20+ aircraft during the course of their training. In doing so, the idea is that they’ll be more prepared to handle the new situations when they’re working in their test squadrons.
I was lucky enough to do scores of qual evals, not just as a student but later as an instructor at USNTPS. The instructors participate in the program as well to continue building their skills (you never stop learning at a Test Pilot) and to allow them to grade the reports written by the students.
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