page_title: Commandants of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School
section_title: List of Commandants
hierarchical_section_title: Commandants of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School / Commandants / List of Commandants
caption_attribution_description: Guy S. Gardner, NASA Astronaut (former)
context_page_description: The commanding officer of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School is known as its Commandant. The commandant manages the school which is a military unit that operates in a distinctly academic atmosphere. The position is usually held by a colonel selected by the Air Force Materiel Command commander although this authority may be delegated to the commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center. The commandant oversees all flying training, academic instruction, budgeting, and curriculum administration at the school. The commandant also chairs a board of officers that selects the school's students. The selection board consists of flight test squadron commanders with a majority of the board members being TPS graduates. Every three years, the commandant conducts a review of the school's curriculum with participation from flight test squadrons, the U.S. Naval TPS, and operational squadrons.
  The school's mission is to produce experimental test pilots, flight test engineers, and flight test navigators to lead and conduct test and evaluation of aerospace weapon systems.
context_section_description: Individual was killed in an aviation-related accident.
caption: Guy Gardner
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