It is organized as a not-for-profit educational institute under California state law[1] and is governed by a board of trustees.

[2] In 2016, NTPS became the first test-pilot school in the world to be certified as a Flight Test Authorised Training Organisation by the European Aviation Safety Organization.

Using an instrumented De Havilland Dove (DH-104), introductory, two-week performance and flying qualities flight test courses were taught for Edwards AFB, California; Patuxent River NAS, Maryland; Eglin AFB, Florida; the Naval Postgraduate School, California; Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; and the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment, CFB Cold Lake, Canada.

[citation needed] The school was formally established as a not-for-profit educational institute in California in April 1981.

Over the ensuing years, more flight test training was done in Mojave with a growing fleet of aircraft, rather than at customer locations.

The content was divided among three major components - performance, flying qualities, and systems flight testing, with the flow of the course always was executed in that sequence.

[citation needed] In 1995, the NTPS was approved by the State of California to award master's degrees in flight test and evaluation.

Since 2004, graduates meeting all of the requirements have been eligible for an accredited Master of Science degree in flight test engineering.

The international backgrounds include Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Israel, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.