Job Description – Fixed-Wing UAV Pilot & Flight Test Engineer
Position: Fixed-Wing UAV Pilot & Flight Test Engineer
Department: UAV Development / Flight Testing
Experience: Preferably 3+ years
Qualification: B.E./B.Tech in Electronics, Electronics & Communication, Electrical, Mechatronics, Aerospace, Avionics or related engineering discipline
Employment Type: Full-time
Travel: Should be willing to travel frequently to UAV test sites and customer demonstration locations
1. Position Summary
We are looking for a technically strong Fixed-Wing UAV Pilot & Flight Test Engineer who can combine excellent manual flying skills with a thorough understanding of UAV electronics, flight controllers, autopilot configuration and flight testing.
The candidate should be capable of independently handling the complete flight-test cycle of fixed-wing and fixed-wing VTOL UAVs, including aircraft configuration, manual flying, PID tuning, autopilot tuning, sensor calibration, integration testing, log analysis, troubleshooting and validation of the aircraft before release for operational use.
This is not purely a UAV pilot position. The candidate is expected to be an engineering-oriented test pilot capable of understanding the behaviour of the aircraft and diagnosing problems related to aerodynamics, flight-controller configuration, propulsion, sensors, communications and other onboard systems.
2. Key Responsibilities
A. Fixed-Wing & VTOL Flying
- Manually fly conventional fixed-wing UAVs.
- Manually fly fixed-wing VTOL UAVs.
- Conduct take-off, landing, circuit flying and emergency recovery.
- Perform safe transition testing between VTOL/hover and fixed-wing flight.
- Conduct maiden flights of newly developed UAV platforms.
- Evaluate aircraft stability, controllability and handling characteristics.
- Test aircraft under different payload, CG, wind and operating conditions.
- Conduct autonomous mission testing after successful manual-flight validation.
- Identify abnormal aircraft behaviour during flight and take appropriate corrective action.
B. Flight Controller Configuration
Candidate should be capable of configuring and testing flight controllers based preferably on:
- ArduPilot
- PX4
- Pixhawk-compatible flight controllers
- STM32-based/custom flight controllers
Responsibilities will include:
- Complete flight-controller setup and parameter configuration.
- Accelerometer, compass, airspeed sensor and other sensor calibration.
- Radio/RC calibration.
- Servo direction, travel and control-surface configuration.
- Flight-mode configuration.
- Failsafe configuration.
- GPS/GNSS configuration.
- VTOL transition configuration.
- Autonomous mission configuration.
- Geofence, RTL and emergency behaviour configuration.
3. PID Tuning & Aircraft Tuning
The candidate should have practical knowledge of:
- Roll, pitch and yaw tuning.
- PID parameter tuning.
- Rate and attitude controller tuning.
- Fixed-wing control-loop tuning.
- VTOL/multirotor tuning.
- Transition tuning for QuadPlane/fixed-wing VTOL aircraft.
- Airspeed and throttle tuning.
- TECS tuning.
- Navigation/controller tuning.
- Identification and correction of oscillations.
- Servo and control-surface tuning.
The candidate should understand the relationship between aircraft aerodynamics, CG, control-surface authority, servo response and flight-controller parameters rather than simply changing parameters by trial and error.
4. Flight Testing & Diagnosis
The candidate will be responsible for preparing and executing systematic flight-test programs.
This includes:
- Pre-flight inspection and checklists.
- Ground testing before maiden flight.
- Control-surface verification.
- Motor/propeller testing.
- Power-system verification.
- Range testing.
- Taxi/runway testing where applicable.
- Hover testing of VTOL aircraft.
- Fixed-wing maiden flight.
- Transition testing.
- Autonomous-flight testing.
- Payload flight testing.
- Endurance and range testing.
The pilot should be able to diagnose problems such as:
- Pitch/roll oscillations.
- Poor altitude holding.
- Unstable transitions.
- Incorrect CG.
- Insufficient control authority.
- Servo problems.
- GPS/GNSS problems.
- Compass interference.
- Airspeed-sensor problems.
- Vibration.
- EKF errors.
- Power-system problems.
- Telemetry/link problems.
- Motor/ESC abnormalities.
- Incorrect autopilot parameters.
5. Flight Log Analysis
The candidate should be comfortable downloading and analysing flight logs after every important test flight.
Expected capabilities include analysing:
- Attitude versus desired attitude.
- PID response.
- Vibration levels.
- EKF performance.
- GPS quality.
- Airspeed.
- Altitude.
- Current and voltage.
- Motor outputs.
- Servo outputs.
- Flight modes.
- VTOL transition behaviour.
- Failsafe events.
- Communication/link performance.
Based on the analysis, the engineer should be able to recommend parameter, hardware or aircraft modifications before the next test flight.
6. Electronics & UAV System Integration
Preference will be given to candidates with an Electronics/Electronics & Communication engineering background and hands-on experience integrating UAV electronics.
Candidate should be comfortable working with:
- Flight controllers/autopilots.
- GNSS/GPS and RTK GNSS.
- IMU, magnetometer and barometric sensors.
- Airspeed sensors.
- Telemetry radios.
- RC receivers.
- ESCs and BLDC motors.
- Servos.
- Power distribution systems.
- Batteries and power-management systems.
- Cameras and payloads.
- Companion computers.
- CAN/UAVCAN devices.
- UART, CAN, I²C and SPI interfaces.
Basic ability to use instruments such as a multimeter, oscilloscope and other electronics test equipment will be an advantage.
7. Desired Technical Skills
Essential:
- Strong fixed-wing UAV manual flying skills.
- Fixed-wing VTOL flying experience.
- Minimum approximately 3 years of relevant UAV experience preferred.
- ArduPilot and/or PX4 configuration experience.
- Practical PID/autopilot tuning experience.
- UAV flight-test experience.
- Flight-log analysis and troubleshooting.
- Understanding of UAV aerodynamics and flight dynamics.
- Understanding of CG, stability and control.
- Electronics integration and troubleshooting.
- Ability to independently prepare an aircraft for flight testing.
Highly Desirable:
- Electronics/E&C engineering qualification.
- ArduPilot QuadPlane experience.
- PX4 VTOL experience.
- Experience with large fixed-wing UAVs.
- Experience conducting maiden flights.
- RTK/PPK GNSS integration.
- MAVLink knowledge.
- CAN/UAVCAN knowledge.
- Telemetry and RF system integration.
- Payload and camera integration.
- Experience developing and validating new UAV platforms.
8. Personal Attributes
The candidate should:
- Have a strong safety-first approach to flight testing.
- Be systematic rather than relying only on piloting skill.
- Remain calm during abnormal flight situations.
- Have strong troubleshooting and analytical abilities.
- Be willing to work in the field and at UAV test sites.
- Maintain proper flight-test records.
- Communicate problems clearly to mechanical, electronics and software development teams.
- Be capable of taking ownership of an aircraft from ground configuration through maiden flight, tuning and final validation.
9. Key Performance Expectations
The successful candidate will be expected to:
1. Bring newly developed fixed-wing/VTOL UAVs from initial ground testing to safe flight.
2. Complete flight-controller configuration and tuning.
3. Conduct maiden and development flights safely.
4. Identify and resolve flight-control and integration problems.
5. Analyse flight logs and recommend corrective actions.
6. Validate manual, assisted and autonomous flight modes.
7. Establish repeatable configuration and flight-test procedures.
8. Maintain proper test-flight reports and aircraft configuration records.
9. Train junior pilots/engineers where required.
10. Support customer demonstrations and field trials.
Ideal Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is not simply an RC/UAV pilot. We are specifically looking for someone who combines three capabilities:
Fixed-Wing Test Pilot + Flight-Control/Tuning Engineer + UAV Electronics Integration Engineer
A candidate who can manually fly a newly developed fixed-wing VTOL aircraft, understand its flight behaviour, analyse the autopilot logs, tune the PID/control parameters, diagnose electronics or sensor problems, make the necessary configuration changes and safely conduct the next test flight would be an excellent fit for this position.