Augusta-Westland AW-159 Headed to Sea?

Performance testing seems to have mostly wound up, with only a few tens of test hours still unflown, mostly to focus on stores certification and sea trials, it would seem.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/09/15/362086/dsei-lynx-wildcat-aces-operating-trials.html

Embry-Riddle Eco Eagle Goes Electric

I love this kind of project, where students pull together something that may point the way to the future.  The plane appears to be based on a motorglider airframe.  KUDOs guys!

http://eponline.com/articles/2011/09/15/new-propulsion-design-challenges-current-efficiencies-of-light-airplanes.aspx

Why This Blog?

OKAY...

I started this blog in an effort to enable folks who were in various stages of test planning or test execution to be aware of others who might be able to help them test safely.  Yes, I recognize that many "company" flight test processes and techniques are close-hold and/or proprietary.  It is also obvious that many will have zero interest in broadcasting their test results.  On the other hand, for the same reason that organizations like SETP, SFTE, and the Flight Test Safety Committee hold large meetings to discuss tests in progress, it is my hope that this could be another resource where people (who may not belong to those organizations) could begin to tap into the flow of expertise.  If you are planning a test and are NOT affiliated with any of these organizations, I strongly urge you to consider joining.  They can save your program... and maybe your life.

If you are on a test program and do not ever see it mentioned here, remember that everything I find is via some kind of search engine.  These engines generally key on words in electronic press releases or news reports.  This is not a Justin Beiber blog that gets thousands of hits a day, but it IS getting hundreds per week.  If you would like at least a passing mention, suggest to your PR folks that they issue an occasional press-release, otherwise you will remain under our radar.

Thanks for checking in!

Pratt PW 1524G Geared Turbofan

The geared turbofan is seen by a lot of people, including NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, as a highly promising approach to improving specific fuel consumption.  Looks like P&W is happy so far with the engine they hope will make Bombardier's C-Series possible.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/09/15/362108/pw-completes-first-pw1524g-flight-test-programme.html

World-Wide Flight Test Activity Update

WORLD-WIDE FLIGHT TEST & FLIGHT RESEARCH ACTIVITY

(Latest Update: September 14, 2011)

Courtesy: http://flighttesttoday.blogspot.com

ORG/LOC	AIRCRAFT	TEST OBJECTIVES	CONTACT-AFFILIATION	REMARKS
SUKH/ZHU	T-50	Systems, Propulsion	Sergei Bogdan-TP	For Indian AF?
TsKB/TsAGI	Rysachok	Initial certification	Yevgeny Gordeyev-M	5th plane added
BOE-M/WICH	B-52	Systems Testing	Scot Oathout-M	CONECT Datalink
CMC/XIAN	ARJ21	Icing, stalls	Wu Guanghui-M	Flutter complete?
LM/PXRVR	F-35C	Carrier Suitability	Fred Schenk
LM/EDWS	F-35A	Systems, Maturity	Laurie Quincy-M
AW/	AW-159	Performance	Mark Burnand-TP
SCA/MOJ	367 Bipod	Initial Airworthiness	Doug Shane-M	Twin Fuselage, roadable
NG/EDWS	RQ-4B	Systems	George Guerra-M
CSNA*/COLO	C-172	Electric Propulsion	Eric Snelgrove	*with Beyond Aviation
DMND/CNDA	D-Jet	Systems, Flight Ctrls	Mark Elwess-TP
SKRSK/CONN	S-76D	Avionics, Electrical	Tim Fox-M
UTacS/UK	Wtchkpr	Systems	Maj Matt Moore-C
MNDR/AUS	C-NM5	Initial S&C, Perf	Anand Mahindra-M	Partnered w Australia

ABBREVIATIONS:

AUS – Australia

AW – Augusta-Westland

BRAZ – Brazil

EDWS – Edwards AFB

EMB – Embraer

BOE-M – Boeing Military

C - customer

CMC – Comac (China)

CNDA – Canada

COLO – Colorado

CONN – Connecticut

CSNA – Cessna

DMND – Diamond Aircraft

LM – Lockheed-Martin

LOC – location

M – manufacturer

MNDR – Mahindra Group

MOJ – Mojave

NG – Northrop-Grumman

ORG – organization

TP – test pilot

SCA – Scaled Composites

SKRSK – Sikorsky

SUKH – Sukhoi Aircraft

TsAGI – Russian Flight Research Institute, Samara

TsKb – Progress Aircraft

UK – United Kingdom

UTacS – UAV Tactical Systems / Elbit

XIAN – Xian, China

ZHU – Zhukovsky

Mahindra C-NM5 G.A. Aircraft Starts Testing

Flight test of the light aircraft started almost two weeks ago, but only just began to hit the wires recently.  They are apparently already through the initial S&C work.  They are using a well-proven engine, so hopefully tests will go relatively smoothly.  It is hard to tell from the picture, but the plane has an unusual horizontal tail location well forward of the base of the vertical.  (Note the location of the shadow of the horizontal.  You can also find planforms on the web if you look.)  I wonder what led to that... structural issue?

http://www.inewsone.com/2011/09/14/mahindras-maiden-aircraft-completes-successful-test-flight-2/76180



U-TacS Watchkeeper UAV logs 14 Hours

Apparently based on an earlier Elbit airframe and built by a 51%-owned subsidiary of Elbit, the plane is in systems testing right now.  The customer is the British Royal Army, and they are hoping for an early 2012 IOC.

http://www.shephard.co.uk/news/uvonline/watchkeeper-achieves-longest-flight/9913/