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What Is Flight Testing?
Flight testing is a method to gather information, called data, which will describe how a
particular vehicle will perform. Flight testing of a vehicle is done when very little data exists
to prove that the vehicle will be safe and perform as desired. The data obtained from flight
tests are then used to design future vehicles. In flight testing various motions, called
manoeuvres, are used to obtain this data.
What Is Performance?
“Performance” refers to the motion of the airplane along its flight path, forward and aft, up
or down, right or left, as described on the axis system. The term "Performance" also refers
to how fast, how slow, how high and how far. It may also refer to the ability of an airplane
to successfully do its job, or what it is trying to accomplish. “Performance” includes such
items as minimum and maximum speed, maximum altitude, maximum rate of climb,
maximum range and speed, rate that fuel is used, distance to take-off and land, and the
weight of what it can carry.
What Are Flight Test Maneuvers?
Maneuvers are the motions of the aircraft done by the pilot to determine aircraft
performance. A maneuver is a translational or rotational motion of the aircraft during a
flight test to obtain performance data. There are specific test maneuvers which are used to
measure these performance qualities for each airplane. Sometimes, flight testing is a
competition to select the best airplane to do a particular job. All of the performance
measurements are strongly affected by differences in the weather conditions, such as
temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind.
What is Stability?
Stability refers to the rotational motion of an airplane about its three axes; roll, pitch, and
yaw. "Stability" is defined as the tendency of an object to return to its initial position when it
is disturbed or moved from its initial position.
A marble placed in the bottom of a shallow trough is said to be stable. When moved, the
marble will tend to return to that resting place at the bottom of the trough. It may overshoot
and move (or oscillate) back and forth, but it will continue to seek the lowest point in the
trough (see the red line in the trough). “Static” stability is a measure of how quickly the
marble will return to the bottom of the trough. A trough with steep sides will result in a
higher level of static stability for the marble than one with shallow sides. This motion that
results from a statically stable condition is called "oscillatory".
What Is a Neutral Condition?
If we set the marble on a flat table ,there is no tendency for it to return to its initial position.
The marble will stay in any location that it is placed on the table. This condition is called
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"neutral stability". The motion resulting from a condition of neutral stability is called "non-
oscillatory".
What Is an Unstable Condition?
If we turn the trough upside down, we can balance the marble at one point on the top of
the trough, but when disturbed it will tend to move away from the balance point at an
increasing rate. This is an example of an unstable condition, or "static instability". The
motion that results from static instability is called a "divergence".
What Is Damping?
Damping is resistance to motion. Damping only exists when actual movement is
occurring. For an airplane, it is usually characterized as being proportional to the rate of
movement, or velocity. (Note that "velocity" can be either translational - speed, or
rotational - revolutions). Damping is usually related to some form of friction. if we line the
trough referred to in the stability example with a towel, the marble will still seek the lowest
point in the trough (still statically stable), but the towel has increased the friction between
the marble and the smooth sides. The towel has added damping to the motion of the
marble.
Why flight testing is required:
The need for flight test means that the flight system or vehicle under test requires
accurate assessment in the flight environment rather than relying on the results of ground-
based verification methods such as wind tunnels, simulators, and software models.
Ground-based methods, although useful, are limited in their ability to fully model the
dynamic and true nature of actual flight. These limitations are summarized below
Adequate replication of actual flight conditions on the ground is often impractical, if not
impossible; particular flight conditions may be insufficiently defined or too complex to be
replicated or simulated; all but the simplest of aircraft incorporate many systems having
complex interactions; those interactions may be more difficult to fully investigate on the
ground; despite our best endeavors, significant discrepancies between actual flight
behavior and ground-based predictions are common; flight test data are essential to both
improve and validate the accuracy of models and simulations.
1.1 Types of Flight Test The types of flight tests performed are often grouped by their
purpose. Three common categories are experimental, development and certification,
and production flight test. Experimental flight test involves verifying or refuting the
validity of an aeronautic hypothesis; essentially exploring the unknown of aeronautic
capabilities.
.
1.2 Development and certification flight test involves demonstrating compliance with all
requirements, ensuring that the aircraft or system does what it was designed to do.
During developmental test, a representative aircraft or system is used to validate the
entire fleet or system stock. When specifically dealing with the developmental test of
aircraft, test pilots often perform specific maneuvers in flight commonly referred to as
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flight test techniques. A few common roles of developmental flight test are defined
below:
Performance: evaluation of performance abilities such as aircraft speed or
range, or system communication or sensor accuracy.
Structural evaluation of aircraft or system loads to verify structural integrity.
Handling qualities aircraft’s controllability and response to pilot inputs.
Flight envelope: range of speeds and altitudes permitted for aircraft or system
operation
1.3 Production testing
. The goal of production flight test is to ensure individual aircraft are manufactured
properly and is in a condition for safe operations. It is the final stage of the production
process and is a prerequisite to each aircraft being issued a Certificate of
Airworthiness and released to the customer. Production flight test does not demand the
full range of test outlined in development and certification flight test. Instead, efforts
such as performing operational checks, instrument inspections for proper placarding,
and other assessments are made to ensure each aircraft meets its design
specifications and that systems operate correctly. For example, in 2013 Boeing
completed the first production flight test of the new 787-9: a longer version of their
newly certified 787 Dreamliner. Testing included standard Boeing-defined production
flight test requirements with the addition of criteria specifically aimed at evaluating the
different propulsion & handling characteristics of the 787-9
Planning the test ( Preparation) : For both commercial and military aircraft, as well as
launch vehicles, flight test preparation begins well before the test vehicle is ready to fly.
Initially what needs to be tested must be defined, from which the Flight Test
Engineers prepare the test plan, which is essentially certain manoeuvres to be flown (or
systems to be exercised). Each single test is known as a Test Point. A full
certification/qualification flight test program for a new aircraft will require testing for many
aircraft systems and in-flight regimes; each is typically documented in a separate test plan.
Altogether, a certification flight test program will consist of approximately 10,000 Test
Points
The document used to prepare a single test flight for an aircraft is known as a Test Card.
This will consist of a description of the Test Points to be flown. The flight test engineer will
try to fly similar Test Points from all test plans on the same flights, where practical. This
allows the required data to be acquired in the minimum number of flight hours. The
software used to control the flight test process is known as Flight Test Management
Software, and supports the Flight Test Engineer in planning the test points to be flown as
well as generating the required documentation]
Once the flight test data requirements are established, the aircraft or launch vehicle is
instrumented to record that data for analysis. Typical instrumentation parameters recorded
during a flight test for a large aircraft are:
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Atmospheric (static) pressure and temperature;
Dynamic ("total") pressure and temperature, measured at various positions around the
fuselage;
Structural loads in the wings and fuselage, including vibration levels;
Aircraft attitude, angle of attack, and angle of sideslip;
Accelerations in all six degrees of freedom, measured with accelerometers at different
positions in the aircraft;
Noise levels (interior and exterior);
Internal temperature (in cabin and cargo compartments);
Aircraft controls deflection (stick/yoke, rudder pedal, and throttle position);
Engine performance parameters (pressure and temperature at various stages, thrust,
fuel burn rate).
Specific calibration instruments, whose behaviour has been determined from previous
tests, may be brought on board to supplement the aircraft’s in-built probes.
During the flight, these parameters are then used to compute relevant aircraft performance
parameters, such as airspeed, altitude, weight, and center of gravity position.
During selected phases of flight test, especially during early development of a new aircraft,
many parameters are transmitted to the ground during the flight and monitored by flight
test and test support engineers, or stored for subsequent data analysis. This provides for
safety monitoring and allows for both real-time and full-simulation analysis of the data
being acquired.
Execution
When the aircraft or launch vehicle is completely assembled and instrumented, many
hours of ground testing are conducted. This allows exploring multiple aspects: basic
aircraft vehicle operation, flight controls, engine performance, dynamic systems stability
evaluation, and provides a first look at structural loads. The vehicle can then proceed with
its maiden flight, a major milestone in any aircraft or launch vehicle development program.
There are several aspects to a flight test program, among which:
Handling qualities, which evaluates the aircraft's controllability and response to pilot
inputs throughout the range of flight;
Performance testing evaluates aircraft in relation to its projected abilities, such as
speed, range, power available, drag, airflow characteristics, and so forth;
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Aero-elastic/flutter stability, evaluates the dynamic response of the aircraft controls and
structure to aerodynamic (i.e. air-induced) loads;
Avionics/systems testing verifies all electronic systems (navigation, communications,
radars, sensors, etc.) perform as designed;
Structural loads measure the stresses on the airframe, dynamic components, and
controls to verify structural integrity in all flight regimes.
Testing that is specific to military aircraft includes :
Weapons delivery, which looks at the pilot’s ability to acquire the target using on-board
systems and accurately deliver the ordnance on target;
An evaluation of the separation of the ordnance as it leaves the aircraft to ensure there
are no safety issues;
air-to-air refueling;
Radar/infrared signature measurement;
Aircraft carrier operations.
Emergency situations are evaluated as a normal part of all flight test program. Examples
are: engine failure during various phases of flight (takeoff, cruise, landing), systems
failures, and controls degradation. The overall operations envelope (allowable gross
weights, centers-of-gravity, altitude, max/min airspeeds, maneuvers, etc.) is established
and verified during flight testing. Aircraft are always demonstrated to be safe beyond the
limits allowed for normal operations in the Flight Manual.
Because the primary goal of a flight test program is to gather accurate engineering data,
often on a design that is not fully proven, piloting a flight test aircraft requires a high
degree of training and skill. As such, such programs are typically flown by a specially
trained test pilot, the data is gathered by a flight test engineer, and often visually displayed
to the test pilot and/or flight test engineer using flight test instrumentation.
Regulations Introduction
To have an uniform regulation for Aircraft Performance the first Civil Aeronautics Authority
was established in 1930 . Later in 1958, it was named as Federal Aviation Administration
and new aircraft certification regulations were released as FAR for small and big aircraft .
The FAR part 23 is for small aircraft and FAR part 25 is for big passenger aircraft. This
was followed in US . In Europe they formed a separate regulation but satisfying FAR
named as JAR, by the European administration and space agency (EASA)..
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After the flight testing, the aircraft has to be certified according to their regulations
like FAA's FAR, EASA's Certification Specifications (CS) and India's Air Staff Compliance
and Requirements.
Weight and CG:
The aircraft loading or weight and balance is one of the most important item in the flight
test as both the performance and stability depends on this. Physical weighing of the
aircraft is the most accurate way to establish the weight and CG position, but it is time
consuming. If the flight test is critical, it is advisable always to weigh the aircraft before the
commencement of flight test to estimate the CG location
Tolerances:
FAA accepts the following tolerances
1. Airspeed – 3knots or ±3%, which ever is greater
2. Power - ±5%
3. Wind speed ( for T/O and landing ) – not to exceed 12 % Vsi or 10 Knots which ever is
lower
4. Weight - +5% to -1% for performances and +5% to -10% for stability
5. CG – ± 7% of total CG travel.
Methods for reducing data uncertainty in flight test data:
Before starting the flight test, conformation about the data collected are good and do not
have any unwanted errors have to be established. To reduce the uncertainty of the data,
the source of the data, how the data is sensed, transmitted and recorded etc. have to be
analysed to eliminate this unwanted error creeping into the flight data.
Sources and magnitude of errors: There are various sources of errors and they are listed
below;
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Data reduction is the transformation of numerical or alphabetical digital information
derived empirically or experimentally into a corrected, ordered, and simplified form. The
basic concept is the reduction of multitudinous amounts of data down to the meaningful
parts.
When information is derived from instrument readings there may also be a transformation
from analog to digital form. When the data are already in digital form the 'reduction' of the
data typically involves some editing, scaling, coding, sorting, collating, and producing
tabular summaries. When the observations are discrete but the underlying phenomenon is
continuous then smoothing and interpolation are often needed. Often the data reduction is
undertaken in the presence of reading or measurement errors. Some idea of the nature of
these errors is needed before the most likely value may be determined.
An example in astronomy is the data reduction in the Kepler satellite. This satellite records
95-megapixel images once every six seconds, generating tens of megabytes of data per
second, which is orders of magnitudes more than the downlink bandwidth of 550 KBps.
The on-board data reduction encompasses co-adding the raw frames for thirty minutes,
reducing the bandwidth by a factor of 300. Furthermore, interesting targets are pre-
selected and only the relevant pixels are processed, which is 6% of the total. This reduced
data is then sent to Earth where it is processed further.
Preparation
For both commercial and military aircraft, as well as launch vehicles, flight test
preparation begins well before the test vehicle is ready to fly. Initially what needs to be
tested must be defined, from which the Flight Test Engineers prepare the test plan,
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which is essentially certain maneuvers to be flown (or systems to be exercised). Each
single test is known as a Test Point. A full certification/qualification flight test program
for a new aircraft will require testing for many aircraft systems and in-flight regimes;
each is typically documented in a separate test plan. Altogether, a certification flight
test program will consist of approximately 10,000 Test Points
The document used to prepare a single test flight for an aircraft is known as a Test
Card. This will consist of a description of the Test Points to be flown. The flight test
engineer will try to fly similar Test Points from all test plans on the same flights, where
practical. This allows the required data to be acquired in the minimum number of flight
hours. The software used to control the flight test process is known as Flight Test
Management Software, and supports the Flight Test Engineer in planning the test
points to be flown as well as generating the required documentation]
Static pressure probe on the nose of a Sukhoi Superjet 100 prototype
Flight test pressure probes and water tanks in 747-8I prototype
Static pressure probe rig aboard Boeing 747-8I prototype; A long tube, rolled up inside the barrel,
is connected to a probe which can be deployed far behind the tail of the aircraft
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Once the flight test data requirements are established, the aircraft or launch vehicle is
instrumented to record that data for analysis. Typical instrumentation parameters
recorded during a flight test for a large aircraft are:
Atmospheric (static) pressure and temperature;
Dynamic ("total") pressure and temperature, measured at various positions around
the fuselage;
Structural loads in the wings and fuselage, including vibration levels;
Aircraft attitude, angle of attack, and angle of sideslip;
Accelerations in all six degrees of freedom, measured with accelerometers at
different positions in the aircraft;
Noise levels (interior and exterior);
Internal temperature (in cabin and cargo compartments);
Aircraft controls deflection (stick/yoke, rudder pedal, and throttle position);
Engine performance parameters (pressure and temperature at various stages,
thrust, fuel burn rate).
Specific calibration instruments, whose behavior has been determined from previous
tests, may be brought on board to supplement the aircraft’s in-built probes.
During the flight, these parameters are then used to compute relevant aircraft
performance parameters, such as airspeed, altitude, weight, and center of gravity
position.
During selected phases of flight test, especially during early development of a new
aircraft, many parameters are transmitted to the groundduring the flight and monitored
by flight test and test support engineers, or stored for subsequent data analysis. This
provides for safety monitoring and allows for both real-time and full-simulation analysis
of the data being acquired.
Execution
When the aircraft or launch vehicle is completely assembled and instrumented, many
hours of ground testing are conducted. This allows exploring multiple aspects: basic
aircraft vehicle operation, flight controls, engine performance, dynamic systems
stability evaluation, and provides a first look at structural loads. The vehicle can then
proceed with its maiden flight, a major milestone in any aircraft or launch vehicle
development program.
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There are several aspects to a flight test program, among which:
Handling qualities, which evaluates the aircraft's controllability and response to pilot
inputs throughout the range of flight;
Performance testing evaluates aircraft in relation to its projected abilities, such as
speed, range, power available, drag, airflow characteristics, and so forth;
Aero-elastic/flutter stability, evaluates the dynamic response of the aircraft controls
and structure to aerodynamic (i.e. air-induced) loads;
Avionics/systems testing verifies all electronic systems (navigation,
communications, radars, sensors, etc.) perform as designed;
Structural loads measure the stresses on the airframe, dynamic components, and
controls to verify structural integrity in all flight regimes.
Testing that is specific to military aircraft includes :
Weapons delivery, which looks at the pilot’s ability to acquire the target using on-
board systems and accurately deliver the ordnance on target;
An evaluation of the separation of the ordnance as it leaves the aircraft to ensure
there are no safety issues;
air-to-air refueling;
Radar/infrared signature measurement;
Aircraft carrier operations.
Emergency situations are evaluated as a normal part of all flight test program.
Examples are: engine failure during various phases of flight (takeoff, cruise, landing),
systems failures, and controls degradation. The overall operations envelope (allowable
gross weights, centers-of-gravity, altitude, max/min airspeeds, maneuvers, etc.) is
established and verified during flight testing. Aircraft are always demonstrated to be
safe beyond the limits allowed for normal operations in the Flight Manual.
Analysis and reporting
It includes the analysis of a flight for [Link] analyze the internal and outer part
of the flight by checking its all minute parts. Reporting includes the analyzed data
result.
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