EPI and Airbus Continue to Wrestle with A400M Gearbox Issues

If the story at the link below is reliable, it would seem that the engine manufacturer thinks the problem is isolated to test vehicles.  That is good as far as it goes, but it doesn't generate a lot of confidence in either company to show up twice at major international airshows with this kind of issue lurking in the system.  Hopefully the solution is relatively straightforward and Airbus won't show up again in public without fully proving the solution in advance.

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/2012-07-11/farnborough-a400m-engine-glitch-only-test-aircraft

Boeing P-8I Sub-Chaser Tests Begin

The performance and flying qualities work on the current test cards should be fairly routine.  The real focus now will probably be the India-specific GN&C software.  The real testing will begin when full-up systems and weapons integration get started.  Unfortunately, we won't hear very much about how that goes.  The only clue will be how closely the work adheres to the schedule.

http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=2334

F-35 Flight Test Update

Recent testing has focused on takeoff and landing work, software V&V, and weapons clearance, in addition to other disciplines.  The regular company updates can be found at the link below.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/lockheed-martin-f-35-flight-test-progress-report-2012-07-10

Sikorsky S-92 Achieves Amphibious Milestone

I'm neither a helicopter tester, nor an amphib guy, but this comes across to me as one of those "ground" tests that could be more risky than most flight tests.  Like max performance braking or Vmcg, I suspect that this one can turn to dirt in a New York nanosecond.  How would you like to be on the water, in weather conditions where few can come to your aid, trying out an unproven set of floats, pitching and rolling in all axes, with the rotor still turning?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/10/idUS94014+10-Jul-2012+PRN20120710

Chinese COMAC ARJ21-700 Certification Testing Continues

This most recent series of tests, involving water ingestion during high speed ground operations, is neither particularly complicated nor dangerous as compared to high AOA or flutter, for example.  But the test is not easy to set up, and the plane still has to pass.  The engine manufacturer is typically the one swetting bullets.  The good news is that often doing something as simple as going to a different nose wheel tire can make a big improvement in how the plane performs.  No report on how this one went, but that sure looks like a lot of water going down the intakes to me.

http://english.comac.cc/home/photo/201207/03/t20120703_563635.shtml

Austrian Trixy Gyrocopter Makes Maiden Flight

As a fixed-wing guy who has just enough helicopter time to hover light copters with relative confidence, I have always had a special respect for rotary-wing flight test.  There are so many dark corners of the flight envelope in which nothing better go wrong or you really have no way to recover without bending some metal.  Looks like Trixy has been fairly prolific at creating new rotary vehicles recently.

http://www.eaa.org/news/2012/2012-07-05_trixyzero.asp

Is NASA Aeronautics Too Far Behind Industry to Catch Up?

As a guy who spent eight of the last nine years working at NASA's premier flight research facility, I've got to admit I see a lot of worry-lines in the mirror on this topic.  The story in the link below asks the same question, and Dr. J. Shin, boss of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, seems close to capitulating in the battle of the NASA budget, even though it wouldn't take all that much to re-establish some real flight research compared to the bucks involved in the James Webb Space Telescope budget over-run.

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/07/03/recapturing-nasas-aeronautics-flight-research-capabilities/

A-10 Flies with Gevo Biofuel Blend

I'm still trying to decide if tests like this are truly steps toward the future or if they are basically just stunts.   Right now pretty much all biofuels cost significantly more than the petroleum-based products they hope to replace.  This is to be expected, since they can't yet benefit from economies of scale.  Still, with 7 billion people looking for something to eat, I have to wonder what percentage of the world's arable land would have to be planted for biofuel to make a significant dent in petroleum usage, and how that would play when the Secretary of State visits some of the hungrier countries.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gevo-flies-high-with-usaf-alcohol-to-jet-test-flight-2012-07-03

Lockheed-Martin F-35C Carries Sidewinders

Lock-Mart seems to have backed away from the chest-pounding press releases that characterized the last couple of years, so information on F-35 test progress requires a bit more digging.  The link below is to a short piece that just shows the plane carrying the air-to-air ordnance.  The picture does do a great job of highlighting the significant increase in C-model wingspan as compared to its sisters.  That wing fold where the ailerons meet the flaps is going to be needed!

http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/28441

Terrafugia Inches Closer to First Deliveries

While the article at the link below is mostly photographic, you will find a few details about recent flight test objectives.  Apparently both ends of the planned flight envelope have been cleared and the company is looking to move forward on ground tests in the roadable mode.  It is interesting that they chose to get the flight envelope cleared before focusing on the ground envelope.  Another aspiring U.S. company is working on a flying motorcycle, but they chose to do these in the opposite order, and recently seem to have stalled, so Terrafugia's approach seems to be more effective.

http://www.gizmag.com/terrafugia-flying-car-test-flight/23141/