diff --git a/tests/dags/test_raise_executor_error.py b/tests/dags/test_raise_executor_error.py
deleted file mode 100644
index c0138edd064d7..0000000000000
--- a/tests/dags/test_raise_executor_error.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,49 +0,0 @@
-# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-
-"""
-DAG designed to test what happens when running a DAG fails before
-a task runs -- prior to a fix, this could actually cause an Executor to report
-SUCCESS. Since the task never reports any status, this can lead to an infinite
-rescheduling loop.
-"""
-from datetime import datetime
-
-from airflow.models import DAG
-from airflow.operators import SubDagOperator
-from airflow.example_dags.subdags.subdag import subdag
-
-args = {
-    'owner': 'airflow',
-    'start_date': datetime(2016, 1, 1),
-}
-
-dag = DAG(
-    dag_id='test_raise_executor_error',
-    default_args=args,
-    schedule_interval="@daily",
-)
-
-section_1 = SubDagOperator(
-    task_id='subdag_op',
-    subdag=subdag('test_raise_executor_error', 'subdag_op', args),
-    default_args=args,
-    dag=dag,
-)
-
-# change the subdag name -- this creates an error because the subdag
-# won't be found, but it'll do it in a way that causes the executor to report
-# success
-section_1.subdag.dag_id = 'bad_id'
diff --git a/tests/jobs.py b/tests/jobs.py
index be72da60e7e18..ec26c70600984 100644
--- a/tests/jobs.py
+++ b/tests/jobs.py
@@ -71,41 +71,6 @@ def test_backfill_examples(self):
                 ignore_first_depends_on_past=True)
             job.run()
 
-    def test_trap_executor_error(self):
-        """
-        Test that errors setting up tasks (before tasks run) are caught.
-
-        Executors run tasks with the `airflow run` command. If a task runs,
-        its state (success, failure, or other) is stored in the database and
-        `airflow run` exits without error. However, if an error is raised
-        before the task runs, then the task won't be able to update its status.
-        This can put the executor into an infinite loop of trying to run the
-        task.
-
-        To counteract that, the executor traps errors coming from
-        `airflow run` (essentially looking for returncode != 0).
-        This unit test creates such an error by trying
-        to run a subdag whose dag_id has changed and therefore can't be
-        found. If the trap is working properly, the error will be caught
-        and the Backfill will report failures. If the trap is not working,
-        the job will run infinitely (the unit test uses a timeout to protect
-        against that case).
-
-        Test for https://github.com/airbnb/airflow/pull/1220
-        """
-        dag = self.dagbag.get_dag('test_raise_executor_error')
-        dag.clear()
-        job = BackfillJob(
-            dag=dag,
-            start_date=DEFAULT_DATE,
-            end_date=DEFAULT_DATE)
-        # run with timeout because this creates an infinite loop if not
-        # caught
-        def run_with_timeout():
-            with timeout(seconds=30):
-                job.run()
-        self.assertRaises(AirflowException, run_with_timeout)
-
     def test_backfill_pooled_tasks(self):
         """
         Test that queued tasks are executed by BackfillJob