HUTCHINSON, Kan. - The Coffee at the Cosmo featured former Cosmosphere camp alum Aaron Tobias who is a test pilot for Textron Aviation.
Tobias took time to talk about the many things that go into his profession and surprisingly it does not just involve flying.
“Most people think a test pilot, all we do is fly, and it’s actually less than 10 percent of our job,” Tobias said. “Most of what we do is working with the design team to get the aircraft from a design standpoint and in the right shape in order to be able to fly it.”
Still, the flying is the fun part of the job although Tobias says it has to involve a very close working relationship with staff and engineers.
“Ultimately somebody’s got to climb in it a go, and that’s us,” Tobias said. “We have to rust them in every single thing that they’re doing in their job day-to-day because we are ultimately trusting them with our lives.”
Safety of aircraft has come to the forefront with the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max jet following two crashes blamed on a software design fault. While the plane is in no way related to Textron Tobias says it does come down to one thing.
“Safety and the operation of the vehicle, reliability of the aircraft is first and foremost,” Tobias stressed. “And as a company, we want to produce a product that is going to provide a safe platform for our customers, and then ensure that it meets FAA criteria.”
Tobias says all aircraft designs usually far exceed FAA standards.