Originally Posted by CEFOSKEY
A friend of mine who works out at Boeing Seattle on the 747-8 and 787 flight test has told me that the FAA is just now beginning to qualify some of their parts based on FEA results for flight test. Both he and I agree its because the government inherently trusts Boeing's FEA and simulation code, as its used as a bargaining chip with other countries during trade (an interesting story there in itself). But I digress.
We arent so lucky, the FAA and DoD want to see NDT+destructive testing to validate our FEA. Im sitting here designing flaws into blades we are going to test to failure under the watchful eye of the FAA, because they wont have it any other way. And I think thats a good thing for everyone (except maybe whoever is paying for 5+ soon-to-be-splintered test blades).
Is that the defence Sikorsky will use in the latest Cougar court case?