How to Use test pilot in a Sentence

test pilot

noun
  • This was a great test pilot mission.
    Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 25 Apr. 2026
  • As a test pilot, this was one of the highlights of my career.
    Terry Virts, Wired, 15 Sep. 2020
  • But only test pilots will be flying these for the time being.
    Michael J. Coren, Quartz, 15 Dec. 2019
  • That’s a clue Mitchell is a test pilot in the beginning of the movie.
    Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 17 Dec. 2019
  • Foote served four and a half months in the brig and later went on to become a test pilot in civilian life.
    Jeff Wise, Popular Mechanics, 13 Aug. 2018
  • But once a test pilot is done with his job, everyone else who flies that plane doesn’t have to worry.
    J. George Gorant, Robb Report, 5 Dec. 2024
  • The world's most famous test pilot, Yeager, passed away this month at the age of 97.
    Jaide Timm-Garcia, CNN, 19 Dec. 2020
  • The shift from test pilot to priest still captures the imagination of his grandson.
    Sig Christenson, San Antonio Express-News, 11 Nov. 2021
  • But designers and test pilots labored to make an airplane easy to handle, whether on the ground or in in the air.
    Eric Tegler, Popular Mechanics, 17 Jan. 2018
  • During its first test flight, part of the mounting failed on takeoff and the test pilot safely brought the car/plane back to earth.
    Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 June 2025
  • Wilmore and Hobaugh were students of Foreman at the Navy test pilot school.
    Dennis Hohenberger, Courant Community, 17 Apr. 2018
  • In movies the test pilot kicks the tires and goes, that whole romantic Chuck Yeager thing.
    J. George Gorant, Robb Report, 5 Dec. 2024
  • Grogan flew the 525 Relentless three to four times a week as a test pilot.
    Gordon Dickson, star-telegram, 17 Jan. 2018
  • Just a few weeks ago, the former Air Force test pilot became the oldest person in space.
    Ken Makin, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 June 2024
  • From the observation deck on a hangar rooftop, the aircraft seems poised and precise as the two test pilots worked through their day’s test card.
    Eric Adams, WIRED, 5 July 2019
  • During their time aboard the Starliner, Wilmore and Williams were in charge as test pilots.
    Amanda Castro, Newsweek, 18 Mar. 2025
  • He was admitted to flight-training school, joined the Air Force, flew jet fighters and served as a test pilot.
    Richard Goldstein, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2019
  • To do this, the test pilots needed a way to see the vortices’ cores, in order to avoid steering into them—which would risk crashing the plane.
    The Economist, 5 Dec. 2019
  • Prior to that, Virts was also an Air Force test pilot and fighter pilot.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN, 31 Dec. 2020
  • Duke was a test pilot who flew F-104 Starfighter jets in the Air Force.
    Doug McKelway, Washington Examiner, 22 Feb. 2021
  • No one would quarrel with the Apollo 11 commander, test pilot and first man on the moon being high on that list.
    James R. Hansen, Discover Magazine, 20 May 2019
  • On this flight, test pilot Matt Diamond in the left seat beside me is not controlling the airplane at all.
    Pete Muntean, CNN Money, 24 May 2026
  • The commander of the mission will be Reid Wiseman, a naval aviator and test pilot.
    Wendy Whitman Cobb, The Conversation, 3 Apr. 2023
  • The two astronauts, both [Butch Wilmore] and [Sunita Williams] are test pilots.
    Linah Mohammad, NPR, 6 May 2024
  • When the aircraft starts actual flight testing, a test pilot will be on board to oversee the flight and can start and stop the autonomy in real time.
    Abhishek Bhardwaj, Interesting Engineering, 6 Oct. 2025
  • This is because the two test pilots, Guld Bowman and Isamu Dyson, know one another.
    Ollie Barder, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2024
  • But the result is a relatively small cockpit space for the test pilots Less and Larson, who are both more than 6 feet tall.
    Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 29 June 2026
  • On the spectrum of thinkers and doers, most test pilots are on the doers side, but Neil was way over on the thinkers side — even among that New Nine group.
    Alissa Wilkinson, Vox, 15 Oct. 2018
  • The Americans who blazed the trail to the moon more than half a century ago were white men chosen for their military test pilot experience.
    Marcia Dunn, Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2026
  • Pilot Billie Flynn, one of the most accomplished test pilots around, has done it all in an F-35.
    Popular Mechanics, 16 May 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'test pilot.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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