Bobble tail thing on test flights

[neroliie]

I excel at technical terms, ahem.

A Boeing fangirl here, for no particular reason than that I think the A380, whilst impressive, is as attractive as...well...me on a bad hair day, whereas the 787 makes my heart go all a-flutter. As such I was browsing around YouTube and found this video talking about the test flight process (you'd only need to watch the first minute or so):

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The ball-type thing attached by what looks like a perilously fragile cord to the tail caught my eye. What part does that play in gathering data? Is it for temperature, or speed, or the such like? Does it have a special name?

Many thanks in advance for assuaging my curiousity! :ok:

[727gm]

It's the price tag ;)

[neroliie]

Oh you jest, but I've already come up with the idea to start a fundraising appeal on my blog to get me a nice shiny 787 :P

[jc2065]

That would be a trailing cone sensor for calibrating the aircrafts' instruments by getting a reading of static pressure, well clear of aircraft structures.

Bobble tail sounds cute too though...

[neroliie]

That would be a trailing cone sensor for calibrating the aircrafts' instruments by getting a reading of static pressure, well clear of aircraft structures.

Bobble tail sounds cute too though...

Thanks! :ok:

Ahem. Now I'm off to learn what on earth static pressure is. Hehehe.

[Noah Zark.]

I'm sure I recall reading somewhere that it is an extendable and retractable aerial (might be HF), the purpose or necessity of which I've long forgotten, something to do with the tests that are being flown.
A proper expert will be along very soon to clear the mystery up for us! :)

[neroliie]

Noah, help an ignorama out and tell me what you mean by HF in this context? ;)

Mike, please do not tease me. I'm slowly getting over my fear of USA visa requirements (I don't have the fancy schmancy biometric passport) because I want to visit the Boeing factory that much. I'm almost willing to bribe people (not that I have much to bribe with) to take me behind the scenes because OOOOOEH DREAMLINER <3

(Did I mention I'm a fangirl?)

Chances are my blog would bore most people here to tears. I wouldn't do that to ya!

[PAXboy]

HF likely to be High Frequency, related to radio signals in the High frequency range, as opposed to Low/medium/High/Ultra High.

[Groundloop]

I'm sure I recall reading somewhere that it is an extendable and retractable aerial (might be HF), the purpose or necessity of which I've long forgotten, something to do with the tests that are being flown.
A proper expert will be along very soon to clear the mystery up for us!

No, it isn't. As said before it is a pressure sensor towed behind the aircraft to measure static air pressure.

[Mechta]

There's a close up of a similar cone right at the start of this Airbus A340-600 video:

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and some bumf from the manufacturer of such a device here:

http://www.prodynamics.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/100100_de.pdf

[neroliie]

My goodness you folks are a veritable treasure trove of information: I just spent Quite A While™ geeking out over that product info blurb pdf. Many thanks! :ok:

[JimmyTAP]

Just to be totally pedantic, the pressure sensor will probably be in the aircraft somewhere. There will be holes in the pipe that trails some distance behind the aircraft to measure the freestream pressure. The orange cone is only there to make the pipe fly smoothly without swirling.

Sorry, used to be my specialism as an FTE.