What is involved in production testing helicopters?

[bugdevheli]

Whats all the fuss! Design your machine, knock it together in the shed, climb in, make sure your head and nuts are well protected, tie her down, and GO FOR IT.

[Graviman]

Hey that's pretty cool, BugDevHeli! Is it your own design or based on a kit?

Trouble is in production when the assy guys are spitting out one a day, to earn everyones keep, things get missed - parts shortages, engineering changes etc. I have a great deal of respect for the guys who can consistently throw a new design together, but noone is perfect and everyone has to learn. The five hour test (say) keeps those mistakes inhouse, where they belong...

Any of the bigger players do production tie-down testing? Are any of the sub-assys tested, eg rotors in whirl-tower, or is quality inspection to drawing relied upon?

Mart

[I Build 92's]

Testing...

Not sure about the other guys, but here at the big Sky we test everything! New production runs gear boxes, blades, etc to the breaking point. Then we put it all on the new airframe, tie it down and run that to death too! When that all checks out we biuld 2 or 3 prototype aircraft and beat them up too! Needless to say, we try our best to root out all the issues before we sell our first production aircraft. Do things come up after the fact? of course, you can't possibly cover every scenario but we sure try!

[Graviman]

"I Build 92's",

I'd like to learn more about your inhouse design/development/test procedures. Nick Lappos has helped me a great deal in obtaining a very practical perspective on heli design. Is there anywhere on the web i can delve a little deeper, since i live in fear of annoying pro heli pilots?

Mart

[I Build 92's]

Graviman

Well if you have been talking to Nick, you've talked to the best!! I have had the pleasure of working with Nick here at Sikorsky since we were both new hires. The stories I can tell!! But I digress....I did some searching thru our company intranet and didn't come up with a whole lot of information for you. Of course I did come up with a slew of process's and procedures that are listed but company private and all so I couldn't forward those to you! There is quite a bit of info on line just by searching "engineering flight test" on Google, and of course there is always Nick....if he can't answer it for you, no one can!

[Graviman]

Thanks for the sound advice "I build 92's", Sikorsky sounds like a great place to work. When i first looked at GKN Westlands (original degree) they still seemed to be suffering from the WG30-300 development costs. I looked again when they became Agusta Westlands, but they were actually laying off...

This way i can compare the engineering experience i have gained with my favourite subject.

Mart

[Graviman]

What about the EH101?

One thing that has not been mentioned here is any development that the pilots contributed to the EH101. I would be curious to expand that to Lynx too, since i understand this was the first production helicopter to have the electronic version of Lockheed's gyro stabilised system fitted (thanx Lu).

DM, any flight feedback ever get used during development? This thread is absolutely NOT going to become a Westland bashing event (FMECA or otherwise)...

Mart

[NickLappos]

Grav,
My experience with the Westlands TPs is that they are first class engineers and pilots, and they contribute mightily to the development of their helos. Certainly the adjustment of systems during flight trials is key to the system's success, and the pilots are strong inputters to this process. In the design phase, prior to flight, the pilots are often consulted and are also influential.

[Graviman]

Thanks Nick. I guess none of the Merlin TPs are going to bite . Shame, since as a professional engineer my interest really was just to improve my practical understanding of rotorcraft design.

Mart (C.Eng,M.I.MechE - honest guv! )

[dangermouse]

Of course WHL flight crew are involved in development

WHL use a joint approach with TPs and FTEs each having an input during the design and devlopment process, WHL use those inputs like any other company. the types of testing that useful feedback can be generated on are fairly self explanatory (handling, vibration, HMI etc)

Unlike some companies WHL have no real distinction between experimental/development/production test crews, all FTEs and virtually all pilots do all aspects of the test job, mainly based on experience, ie I believe the more experienced the individual the more likely to be involved with the experimental type stuff. on the other hand all get involved with production testing (which appears to be pretty run of the mill)

From memory the FTEs represent the core engineering view with the TPs putting in the handling and in-service view of the product, all the TPs are probably ex UK military services whilst most of the FTEs are not(it seems to work OK).

(it appears to be a British trait to remain quiet on a subject like this which is why you won't get many replies)

DM

[Graviman]

Originally Posted by dangermouse

it appears to be a British trait to remain quiet on a subject like this which is why you won't get many replies

Very true, so i am even more appreciative of your taking the time to help me learn.

I would be extremely interested to learn about any handling characteristics which benefited from your experience. WHL products have a reputation for spot on handling - i guess your rotor dynamics guys are pretty experienced.

Mart