diff --git a/LTA/LTAIngest/LTAIngestServer/LTAIngestTransferServer/test/t_ltacp.py b/LTA/LTAIngest/LTAIngestServer/LTAIngestTransferServer/test/t_ltacp.py
index 6c239c4acdc15604765c6be849a239f8bbe3750c..8d830cc4204d33b1052014af506d8ca6e57f298e 100755
--- a/LTA/LTAIngest/LTAIngestServer/LTAIngestTransferServer/test/t_ltacp.py
+++ b/LTA/LTAIngest/LTAIngestServer/LTAIngestTransferServer/test/t_ltacp.py
@@ -7,6 +7,17 @@ except ImportError:
     print 'Please install MagicMock: pip install mock'
     exit(3)
 
+# test if netcat is available
+try:
+    from subprocess import call
+    if call("which nc", shell=True) != 0:
+        print 'Cannot run test without netcat'
+        print 'Please install netcat.'
+        exit(3)
+except Exception as e:
+    print e
+    exit(3)
+
 import logging
 import unittest
 import uuid