Flight test
The flight test phase accomplishes two major tasks: 1) finding and fixing aircraft design problems and then 2) verifying and documenting the vehicle capabilities when the vehicle design is complete, or to provide a final specification for government certification or customer acceptance.
In this case, the government is the customer and has a direct stake in the aircraft's ability to perform the mission.
OT is conducted by a government-only test team with the dictate to certify that the aircraft is suitable and effective to carry out the intended mission.
In the UK, most military flight testing is conducted by three organizations, the RAF, BAE Systems and QinetiQ.
For minor upgrades the testing may be conducted by one of these three organizations in isolation, but major programs are normally conducted by a joint trials team (JTT), with all three organizations working together under the umbrella of an integrated project team (IPT) airspace.
[citation needed] All launch vehicles, as well as a few reusable spacecraft, must necessarily be designed to deal with aerodynamic flight loads while moving through the atmosphere.
This is mainly due to the unknowns of a new aircraft or launch vehicle's handling characteristics and lack of established operating procedures, and can be exacerbated if test pilot training or experience of the flight crew is lacking[4] For this reason, flight testing is carefully planned in three phases: preparation; execution; and analysis and reporting.
Typical instrumentation parameters recorded during a flight test for a large aircraft are: Specific calibration instruments, whose behavior has been determined from previous tests, may be brought on board to supplement the aircraft's in-built probes.
This provides for safety monitoring and allows for both real-time and full-simulation analysis of the data being acquired.
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 overall operations envelope (allowable gross weights, centers-of-gravity, altitude, max/min airspeeds, maneuvers, etc.)
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.
Introduction Aircraft Performance has various missions such as Takeoff, Climb, Cruise, Acceleration, Deceleration, Descent, Landing and other Basic fighter maneuvers, etc.. 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.
By using these performance charts, a pilot can determine the runway length needed to take off and land, the amount of fuel to be used during flight, and the time required to arrive at the destination.
The data from the charts will not be accurate if the aircraft is not in good working order or when operating under adverse conditions.
Always consider the necessity to compensate for the performance numbers if the aircraft is not in good working order or piloting skills are below average.
Combined graphs allow the pilot to predict aircraft performance for variations in density altitude, weight, and winds all on one chart.
Engineers from various other disciplines would support the testing of their particular systems and analyze the data acquired for their specialty area.
