USAF Test Pilot School Curriculum: Test Management Projects 2009

The United States Air Force Test Pilot School (TPS) performs six to eight flight test management projects (TMP) annually. The TMPs cover all aspects of flight test including performance, flying qualities, avionic systems, and human factors. The flight tests are performed for a wide variety of government agencies and commercial sector companies. Test teams are composed of TPS students with a broad base of aviation and research flight experience. Student teams consist of four to six students made up of a 50/50 percent pilot/engineer mix. The test projects address all phases of testing from program introduction, through test plan working groups, technical/safety review boards, and test execution, to final oral and written reports. The test execution occurs over a period of 3 to 4 weeks and generally encompasses 4 to 20 flight test sorties. This paper provides the background of the USAF Test Pilot School program in general and the test management projects in particular. An overview of TPS technical capabilities and resources is provided. Examples of recent TMPs are detailed. These examples include efforts with Air Force research laboratories, Air Force major commands, and Technology Transfer programs using Cooperative Research and Development Agreements between the government and private companies INTRODUCTION The United States Air Force Test Pilot School (TPS) is the premier institute for training test pilots, test navigators, and flight test engineers in the conduct of flight test and evaluation of research, prototype, and production aerospace vehicles, systems, and weapons. The capstone event of the TPS curriculum is the test management program (TMP) in which student teams perform an extensive flight test project in support of a broad base of outside agencies. The TMP provides comprehensive end-to-end training in all phases of test management and execution. These programs provide students with practical hands-on test experience from program introduction to writing the final report and providing oral presentations of test results, conclusions, and recommendations to the customer and Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTQ leadership and technical personnel. The program presents students the opportunity to apply the technical, management, and leadership concepts taught during the course. Emphasis is placed on understanding customer technical requirements within the constraints of cost and schedule demands. To date, TPS has been exceptionally successful in meeting customer requirements and providing real world training for its students. The purpose of this paper is to highlight our recent programs, and to inform outside agencies of our capabilities to perform low cost, quick-reaction flight test programs. USAF TEST PILOT SCHOOL COURSE OVERVIEW The USAF Test Pilot School provides training in three courses: the Experimental Test Pilot Course, Test Navigator Course, and Flight Test Engineer Course. The courses are integrated to instill cooperation and understanding between test team members which is essential for successful flight test operations. Data group teams plan, fly, evaluate, and report on selected test projects throughout the course. The flying program for the pilots develops the knowledge, flying precision, and powers of observation necessary for successful flight evaluations. The flying program for navigators and engineers leads to an understanding of problems pilots encounter and familiarizes them with airborne test tasks needed to accomplish precise flight test techniques. Navigators and engineers perform extensive evaluations of airborne avionics and weapons systems to determine suitability under operational conditions. The course is divided into four phases: (1) Performance, (2) Flying Qualities, (3) Systems Test, and (4) Test Management The Performance Phase develops the theory and methods of evaluating aircraft takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, turn, acceleration, propulsion, and landing performance. The Flying Qualities Phase examines the stability and control characteristics which influence the ease of safely flying the aircraft during steady and maneuvering flight in execution of the total mission. During this phase, aircraft are tested to determine static and dynamic characteristics, estimate stability parameters, evaluate flight control system effectiveness, and measure engine-out handling quality characteristics. The Systems Test Phase evaluates aircraft avionics and their system integration. The Performance, Flying Qualities, and System Test Phases all have integrated academic and flying programs to maximize student training effectiveness. The Test Management Phase academics are integrated throughout the program with the actual test management project execution occurring during the latter part of the course. USAF TEST PILOT SCHOOL TECHNICAL RESOURCES The curriculum is supported with state-of-the-art instrumented aircraft and contemporary data acquisition and analysis systems. TPS serves as a self-contained Combined Test Force (CTF) providing extensive technical capabilities for complete flight test engineering. TPS instructs basic flight test techniques with four instrumented T-38A aircraft. The T-38A aircraft are instrumented with sensitive cockpit instrumentation (airspeed, altimeter, mach, g, angle of attack, and sideslip gauges) and a programmable data acquisition system. All four aircraft possess onboard data recorders and telemetry

A contradiction lies at the core of handling qualities evaluations: The most complex subsystem of the handling qualities loop is both the least understood and most familiar system. This subsystem is, of course, the human body. A test pilot’s lack of understanding of the mechanisms involved in his cognition and motor control is only exceeded by the confidence he shows in his ability to report on them. Nevertheless, satisfactory handling qualities are vital for safe mission accomplishment so the USAF Test Pilot School (TPS) must endeavor to prepare its graduates to rationally conduct these evaluations. In the last five years, the USAF TPS has undergone a steady transformation in the education of its students for these tasks. This change has stemmed partly from changes in the foundational assumptions of how pilots control, partly from TPS research into objective measurements of pilot inceptor motion, and partly from the recognition that traditional pilot modeling approaches serve only as useful analogies that have little in common with the actual mechanisms of human cognition and motor control. This paper will review the history of handling qualities evaluations at the USAF TPS and describe how shifts in the foundations of the School’s understanding of pilot control have encouraged significant adjustments to the aircraft handling qualities curriculum. These adjustments are helping students better understand how their minds and bodies work and are helping them learn how to create and execute flight test techniques that more efficiently and accurately predict aircraft capability.

: This report presents the results of Project Have MOTO which used parameter estimation to determine TG-14A stability derivatives. This test program demonstrated the ability to determine the stability derivatives using airborne flight test techniques. The USAF Test Pilot School (TPS), Class 07B, conduct 20 flight test totaling 27.1 hours at Edwards AFB, California from 17 to 25 March 2008.

: This report presents the results of Project Have VEST, a limited evaluation of a back up velocity estimate following air data system failure. This test program demonstrated the potential of the VEST algorithm to provide an airspeed estimate using aircraft last known state and flight control computer accelerations and rates. The USAF Test Pilot School (TPS), Class 07A, conducted six flight tests totaling 11.3 hours at Edwards AFB, California, from 9 to 21 Sep 2007. All test objectives were met.

: This report presents the results of Project SELF SERVE, Limited Evaluation of Autonomous Aerial Refueling Algorithm. The overall test objective was to gather flight test data of the Automated Aerial Refueling algorithm for the Air Force Research Laboratory. The USAF Test Pilot School, Class 03B, conducted 4 flight test sorties totaling 6.5 hours at Edwards AFB, California, from 3 May to 4 May 04. All test objectives were met.

The T-38A is the primary training aircraft at the USAF Test Pilot School. The aircraft used was fully instrumented for all aerodynamic flight parameters including angular rates, accelerations, and control surface positions. Flight test data were obtained over a series of sub-sonic and supersonic test points in the clean aircraft configuration. The flight test data were reduced using the System Identification Programs for AirCraft (SIDPAC) toolbox for MATLAB resulting in an aerodynamic model of the T-38A. The investigation identified several considerations when conducting a shortterm, limited scope model identification test. The lessons learned from this application may be applied to further studies of aircraft dynamics.

In this paper, a load test method of landing gear during take-off and landing of helicopter was proposed and the structure of helicopter landing gear, the modification of strain gauge bridge, the establishment of load calibration equation and the flight test of helicopter were studied. Firstly, according to the structure of helicopter landing gear, the stress analysis of landing gear was carried out, and the load position and force form of landing gear were determined during take-off and landing. Then, the measuring principle of the strain bridge was studied. According to the technical requirements, structural characteristics of the landing gear load test and the properties and principles of the strain bridge, the distribution and load measurement form of the strain bridge of the dangerous structure of the landing gear were designed. Then, studying load calibration test scheme of landing gear and carrying out load calibration test, the load calibration equation of landing gear was obtained, and the accuracy of load calibration equation was verified by comparing the expected load and actual load. Through the flight test, the landing gear load during the take-off and landing of the helicopter was obtained. Finally, the valid analysis of flight load data was carried out. The results show that the proposed method is feasible, and the flight test data of landing gear load are accurate and reliable, which can provide data support for the structure modification, fatigue analysis and the life evaluation of landing gear.

This study aims to illustrate how the management of Islamic curriculum in Salafiah boarding schools, this goal is based on the reality that the Islamic curriculum in each private educational institution has a difference between each other, this is because every manager of educational institutions, especially boarding schools have the authority to manage the curriculum. The methods used in this research are qualitative, research data sources of pondok pesantren leaders, representatives of curriculum fields, teachers in boarding schools are selected puvosif, data collection techniques used are observation, interviews and documentation studies, data analyzed with an interactive approach. Based on the results of the research it is known that the management of the curriculum in salafiah boarding school Baitul Rafki As-Sa'diyah Talu is: 1) islamic curriculum planning is dominated by the results of thought and desire of the leadership of islamic boarding schools, 2) the implementation of islamic curriculum in the boarding school is carried out all human resources in accordance with the direction of the curriculum representative, 3) Evaluation of the curriculum in this boarding school is not carried out in accordance with the demands of the changing times.

The US Air Force (USAF) Flight Test Center has made recent advancements in its system identification capabilities. The most recent project from the USAF Test Pilot School (TPS) was to implement a near real-time parameter identification curriculum sortie. This sortie development entailed automatic parsing of input doublets and then analyzing these doublets using equation error. The Global Vigilance Combined Test Force would like to take the next step toward more rapid parameter identification, specifically by extending beyond the previous equation error techniques and advancing towards trajectory reconstruction, i.e. data compatibility and output error. The paper herein demonstrates how to solve for aerodynamic stability and control derivatives via dynamic optimization using pseudospectral methods. Future research may include time delay which can be added as another optimization parameter, thus resolving issues with heavily filtered instrumentation data. The inherent implicit integration within the pseudospectral method has already shown improved stability over traditional explicit integration within shooting methods (1) . Also, by optimizing the solution using a smaller finite number of nodes, the convergence time may drastically improve over explicit or sequential integration. Lastly, by using segmented adaptive node distribution, vice a single segment, a more accurate solution may be obtained using the same number of nodes. The work herein introduces a new method for system identification algorithms. This is intended to be an extension, or improvement, upon the existing accomplishments within the System Identification Programs for Aircraft (SIDPAC) software documented in Aircraft System Identification: Theory and Practice by V. Klein and E.A. Morelli. The pseudospectral method and the General Pseudospectral Optimal Control Software (GPOPS) to solve dynamic optimization problems are already established. This paper extends these established techniques towards this new application. These results are modeled after textbook examples for output error. This technique is motivated by the desire to develop a practical real time parameter estimation capability.

Nowadays the multi-rotor UAVs are used a lot in military and civilian fields and which are playing an increasingly important role. However, the fixed support frames made of metal or composite material acting as landing gears are widely used on the multi-rotor UAVs, which have shortages and can’t be applied to the landing environment with uneven terrain. So a new kind of terrain-adaptive bionic landing gear is proposed in this article with the function of adapting complex terrains and makes the multi-motor UAVs landing on rough terrain, great slope and step floor. The composition and designing principles of the system are introduced at first. Based on the working process, the design method of one-leg system is detailed described as a basic part, and the kinematic solution of multi-leg system is also based on this through coordinate transform. And through virtual simulation, laboratory debugging and flight test, the feasibility and correctness of the design are shown at last. From the jobs in this article, the terrain-adaptive landing gear can be successfully used on multi-rotor UAVs when landing on some complex terrain through adjusting the orientation of the legs. Compared to the traditional design forms, the design has important engineering application value.

: This technical report presents the results of the arc segment attitude reference (ASAR) head-up display (HUD) symbology as a primary flight reference test and evaluation. Testing was requested by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Human Effectiveness Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The responsible test organization was the 412th Test Wing, Edwards AFB, California. The test execution organization was the ASAR HUD test team from the USAF Test Pilot School located at Edwards AFB. Testing was performed on the USAF NF-16D Variable-Stability In-Flight Simulator Test Aircraft serial number 86-0048, from 7 to 23 July 2004 and was comprised of 5 ground simulation familiarization and test sessions totaling 12.0 ground test hours, 2 calibration flights and 15 test sorties totaling 23.8 flight test hours. The overall test objective was to determine if the use of the ASAR in the MIL-STD- 1787C HUD symbology as the principal attitude reference, in place of the climb-dive ladder, improved pilot performance during unusual attitude recoveries, vertical banked S-turn (S-B) and vertical dive S-turn (S-D) maneuvers, and precision ILS approaches. The vertical S-B maneuver was a continuous series of rate climbs and descents flown on an initial constant heading. The vertical S-D maneuver was similar except that the direction of turn was reversed simultaneously with each change of vertical direction. The overall test objective was met.

Underpinned by Hallinger and Murphy’s (1985a) three-dimensional model of instructional leadership as the lens for analysis of the discourse, this chapter seeks to unravel the subject of curriculum management and teacher connectedness in South Africa’s rural secondary schools. The chapter explores the necessity for collaboration in curriculum management between members of the school management team (SMT) and post-level teachers in South Africa’s rural secondary schools. Among the key findings of this chapter are insights generated to help improve the reputation of curriculum management as it is practiced in South Africa’s rural secondary schools and by its educators as well as across the continent of Africa and globally. The findings also unravelled some of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are not easily noticeable in many instructional leadership practices. In addition, the findings provide important insights to members of the SMT s and classroom practitioners on the six critical dimensions of instructional leadership: identifying the vision for their schools, articulating the vision, fostering the acceptance of group goals (teachers), providing individualised support, providing intellectual stimulation, and establishing appropriate and high-performance expectations. The conclusion arrived at is that many of the challenges facing members of the SMT s as instructional leaders in South African secondary schools as learning organisations cannot be understood by adopting a casual approach but require a systematic analysis if they are to be fully expunged from the school curriculum. The study recommends that South African rural secondary school principals as curriculum managers need to have strong synergies with their subordinate educators or teachers if they are to fully ensure effective curriculum leadership and management practices in the schools.

This paper describes the method used to isolate the individual airframe noise components and determine their relative contribution to the total noise radiated by a 747 aircraft with JT9D-7A engines at approach. The individual components are isolated using ensemble averaged flight test data. The spectral data are normalized on the basis of altitude, airspeed, temperature, and relative humidity. The noise radiated at approach is reconstructed from addition of individual components and compares very accurately in level, spectral shape, and directivity pattern to the actual flyover. A comparison is made between each individual airframe noise component, their logarithmic sum representing the synthesized total airframe component, and Fink's prediction method. The results of this study show that the landing gear, when isolated from configurations having the flaps retracted, is the major contributor to airframe noise. If the effect of flap deployment was included in the isolation of the landing gear noise component, this result could be altered. No evidence of jet-flap interaction noise is found for the 747-JT9D aircraft.

Structural health and usage monitoring of unmanned air vehicles is of increasing interest not only for the evaluation of flight loads and the use of data in order to estimate the remaining lifetime of the structure but also for a fast and reliable assessment of structural impacts due to unexpected events that can produce significant loads on the structure, such as hard landings and gusts. This is especially important with composite material structures where damage is quite often barely visible. In-flight load and usage monitoring enables fast turnaround times and increases the availability of the unmanned air vehicle. The Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technology has been developing, for over two decades now, unmanned air vehicles for surveillance, reconnaissance, and aerial targets. At the moment, a health and usage monitoring system for the Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technology’s medium altitude and long endurance unmanned air vehicle called MILANO, based on fiber Bragg grating sensors that measure strain and temperature, is being developed. The sensors are integrated in the outer and central wing box and the central and rear fuselage. The health and usage monitoring system is based on the experience gained during flight test activities of the tactical unmanned air vehicle SIVA, an all-composite material unmanned air vehicle developed and assembled by Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technology. One SIVA is instrumented with 15 fiber Bragg grating sensors that measure both strain and temperature in different structural points of interest, such as the outer wing, the wing attachment, the front and rear fuselage, a stabilizer, and the landing gear. The use of optical sensors instead of electrical sensors has the advantages of lower weight penalty, longer durability, and total immunity to electromagnetic interferences. Structural deformations of the unmanned air vehicle have been measured during flight and used to calculate structural flight loads. Temperature-induced thermal strains have been compensated for. This article explains the results and data evaluation of the performed flight tests, describes the equipment used and the sensor applications, and presents the health and usage monitoring of Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technology’s tactical and medium altitude and long endurance unmanned air vehicles.

Landing gears of commercial aircraft make an important contribution to total aircraft noise in the approach configuration. Using fairings to shield components from high speed impingement reduces noise. Furthermore, perforating these fairings has been confirmed by flight tests to further enable noise reduction. Following an earlier fundamental study of the application of perforated fairings, a study has been performed to investigate and optimize the benefits of bleeding air through landing gear fairings. By means of wind tunnel tests, an aerodynamic and acoustic survey has been performed on a simplified generic main landing gear to explore the influence of (perforated) fairings on the lower part of the gear. The results show that for this specific case, the application of impermeable fairings reduces noise in the mid- and high frequency range by shielding sharp edged components from high velocity impingement. However, below 1 kHz the noise is shown to increase significantly. Application of the perforations is shown to diminish this low frequency increase whilst maintaining the reduction in the mid- and high frequency range. The aerodynamic and acoustic measurements point in the direction of the separated flow of the fairings interacting with the downstream gear components responsible for the low frequency noise increase. Bleeding of the air through the fairings reduces the large scale turbulence in the proximity of these components and hence diminishes the low frequency noise increase.