Flight Test Society of South Africa



Flight Test Society of South Africa

DECEMBER 2011 NEWSLETTER

4th QUARTER 2011

PRESIDENT/CAA

CSIR

PAST-PRESIDENT

Ivan Pentz

Denel Aviation

SECRETARY

GRAHAM ROUGHTON

INCOMAR

TREASURER

Charl Coetzee

SAAF TFDC

MEMBERSHIP/

EVAN JONES

ATE

ECSA

Johannes Joubert

Incomar

WEBSITE

Petri van Zyl

TFASA

LEGAL OFFICER

Jacques le roux SAAF TFDC

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Year end greetings to all flight testers. A successful year for flight testing; all test programmes completed successfully and most importantly, safely. Once again, this newsletter is aimed at updating all members on our flight test business and whatever our colleagues, wherever they may be, are up to. Merry Christmas to all and a blessed flight test year in 2012.

GENERAL NEWS

Annual Subscriptions

Please be reminded that it is always time for annual subscriptions to be remitted! Please support your Society by being a member in good standing to enable the committee to conduct business for 2011.

LOCAL NEWS

DENEL FLIGHT TEST NEWS UPDATE

Denel Aviation Flight Test has been in and out of Ecuador since the beginning of July 2011. Denel Aviation had bought (from the SAAF) and sold two Cheetah D’s and ten Cheetah C’s to the Ecuadorian Air Force (FAE). The aircraft will be delivered to the FAE in four batches of three aircraft in an incredibly tight schedule of two months per Batch.

The process for each aircraft was as follows as per contract:

a. Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT) consisting of a Shakedown test, Simulated Air to Ground and Low-level Navigation sortie and an Air to Air sortie.

b. This would be followed by a Site Acceptance Test (SAT) after the aircraft had been re-assembled in Ecuador and basically consisted of the same three sorties.

c. The Customer would then fly three Buyers Acceptance Tests (BAT).

Obviously for the BAT to take place the FAE project pilot would have to be current on type. Six pilots had done Simulator training with Pottie in Makhado and this would continue with Mike (Weingartz) doing the flying training in country.

There was an additional very important phase which had to take place before SAT tests could place and that was Software Qualification (SQ). The Cheetah’s Navigation and Weapon Delivery System (NWDS) basically catered for operations in the South-East quadrant. In other words, south of the Equator and west of the Prime Meridian. Unfortunately, Ecuador lies at 80˚west and north and south of the equator. The software took about six months to modify and the Flight Test went to a short repeat of the Recipient Project. We flew Bingo, Tacan, Low-level Nav, Simulated A-G and A-A profiles. Obviously, we should have thrown bombs in SA to clear the software but these were apparently, unavailable. The ten permanent runways for the Systems Controlled Approach (SCA) had to be changed to Ecuadorian bases and obviously this functionality could only be tested in Ecuador. We also fitted a Garmin GPS into both cockpits of the Cheetah D as the FAE had de-commissioned the Tacan’s at all their bases. This would leave the Che D with an IMU which could drift up to 1nm/hr or more which is rather 'uncool' when the cloud-base and visibility at Taura, is generally less than 2000 ft and 3 nm, 300 days of the year.

During the SQ testing in SA and Ecuador we found a couple of glitches which were in the software before the Upgrade. These included false Bingo warnings, a CTU freeze and dodgy range and bearing indications during an SCA approach. This occurred during an SCA test into Manta and Air Force base on the West Coast of Ecuador. The problem was, as usual, put down to “finger trouble” but fortunately the Video gave clear evidence of the problem. It took Gawie (Hattingh) about a hundred attempts before he replicated the anomaly on the bench in SA. The false Bingo warning appeared when it read a full main tank which exceeded 450 litres as a negative value!

Software Qualification in Ecuador was not catered for and we were asked to squeeze it into the SAT tests (No surprise there). We did this as far as possible but the Bingo and SCA tests were “over and above” and this really peeved management off. And we won’t even talk about the fact that we hadn’t thrown a single bomb in SA or in Ecuador, which really got Gawie’s bile up.

Batch 1 took three weeks to get off the ground with delays in the shipping of dangerous goods (ejection seat cartridges). The SAT tests in the Che C went off without hitch except for the SCA problem. The Cheetah D SAT tests were also hampered with delays and then misfortune struck.

During a Shakedown sortie with Mike in the back, Galo (Capt Alvarez and 2 IC of the Squadron) went inverted and on his return to the vertical he was partially ejected. The canopy fragellated, the Barometric TRU went off but the cartridges and drogue gun did not. Galo was half out of the cockpit held in position only by the blue leg straps with the parachute lines probably shredded by the shards of the broken canopy. He said afterwards that he thought that Mike had been ejected and that he was on a free ride to a certain death. Only when Mike started turning on the tear drop from a let-down did he realize that all was not lost. The Perspex between the cockpits had been blasted and Mike had to do a series of snake turns and sideslips in order to see the runway. Some brilliant flying on Mike’s part clearly saved Galo’s life.

This incident stopped proceedings while Denel Aviation along with Martin Baker conducted a Board of Enquiry. The exact reason for the partial ejection is still unclear. It could have been (in my opinion) faulty installation of the seat, but without doubt, a thorough pre-flight ejection seat inspection (once again – in my opinion) could have prevented the incident. So, to all uses of the Martin Baker ejection seat, take your Pilot’s Checklist with you on your next sortie and go through the pre-flight inspection step by step. It is amazing how much you would have forgotten since your most recent training course.

Tomorrow (24 November) Galo should fly his first sortie after the incident. It took about two months to fix and bench test the fixes to the Software Upgrade. We did a couple of spot-check sorties in SA and all seemed OK but we had still not thrown any bombs. It was at this point that Denel Aviation Fixed Wing started painting itself into a corner. Quality Assurance disallowed in the BAT CFT, the carriage of any bombs because it could not be established whether the bombs in their inventory were the same as the SAAF’s and therefore if the NWDS catered for the same. This then became an issue with aircraft acceptance at which point Denel bought half a dozen inert FAE bombs. The Bombing SQ had to be flown by a TP, which the FAE don’t have, but, in addition, they would not allow a foreigner to carry any weaponry across their sovereign land. Talk about handbags at the read at ten yards!

Eventually a compromise was reached and the Viking was allowed to do the tests with Diego (Major Gonzalez, Sqn OC and Project Acceptance Pilot) in close attendance. (He virtually flew the whole sortie in close formation, videoing every bomb dropped and 30mm shot!). The Range is about 45 nm from Taura, just a short hop under the Guayquil International approach path. I had, had quite a bit of preparation with all the FAT and SAT tests and managed to put the first bomb on the Coke. The Spec was 8.9 millirads for CCIP which we managed to do with five out of six bombs which included three Dive Toss attacks. The FAE were well impressed and we were happy to write in the report “within the scope of the evaluation, the software upgrade has not affected the bombing functionality in any way”. (By implication – no mention of TOSS!).

It’s a funny thing, flight test – it’s almost like being a dentist. When you fix something, it normally comes with a lot of pain and nobody loves you for it! Doomed if you do, doomed if you don’t. Having thrown a Coke on the first bomb, the first comment was – “total waste of money”. Not many guys used the SCA in SA and consequently the anomaly seldom surfaced and it if did, went un-noticed. So the improvements we have made and the subsequent costs would never have been incurred if it wasn’t for Flight Test. The only time our services are valued is when someone doesn’t die. Fatalities and inadvertent serious screw-ups don’t happen that often, but every sortie that doesn’t happen without a fatality or screw-up could be attributed to work done by flight test – yet nobody thanks you for it.

Greetings,

Ivan Pentz

Chief Test Pilot: Denel Aviation

SETP EUROPEAN SAFETY WORKSHOP

The beautiful, city of Salzburg is not only the home of European classical music and the home of Red Bull Racing, but in November 2011, it was also home to the annual gathering of European test pilots at the Society of Experimental Test Pilot’s (SETP) Safety Workshop 2011. Against the themed backdrop of ‘Flight Test Demonstration of Prototype Aircraft’, forty experimental test pilots and flight test engineers from as far afield as Japan, the USA and South Africa, joined their European colleagues representing major and minor aircraft manufacturers, in bringing safety lessons learned to the fraternity with the view to preventing accidents during flight test demonstration flying.

The purpose of the three-day workshop was to develop benchmarked, best practice procedures, processes, checklists and to consider manoeuvre design to assist current and aspirant flight test demonstration pilots. Presentations by highly experienced flight test demonstration pilots, were real and relevant. More than ever though, it was apparent that adequate regulatory oversight existed, yet accident rates during display flying are not improving - far from it, they’re actually getting worse.

“High Performance Airshows vs. Product Demonstrations – and the Fickleness of Knowing the Difference” was the topic reviewed by Boeing F-18 Super Hornet display pilot Ricardo Traven, while Cassidian’s Eurofighter display pilot, Chris Worning, complemented the high performance jet deliberations, discussing "Displaying the Typhoon - Lessons Learned".

Ploughing back many, many years of experience, Patrick Experton, Mirage III, Mirage 2000 and Rafael test pilot, presented "Dassault´s View" on flight test demonstration flying, particularly the role of the flight test team and the monitoring of performance data during the actual display. The former Dornier chief test pilot, Dieter Thomas, dealt with the “Tricks of the Trade” gathered over more than 35 years of demonstrating new designs.

Andrew Warner, Eurocopter’s chief test pilot, brought another dimension to the deliberations, discussing the idiosyncrasies of demonstrating helicopters in his presentation on "Rotorcraft Displays"; considering the high agility and manoeuvring margins of current helicopters, it is imperative that the flight test experience gained, particularly in terms of techniques and structural loads generated by such demonstrations, be passed on to helicopter pilots and the airshow community at large.

In what must be regarded as a first, the chief test pilots of Airbus and Boeing, Terry Lutz and Dave Carbaugh – combined their presentation to share the lessons of demonstrating modern ‘big jets’ in their presentation, “Displaying Transport Category Aircraft”. When it comes to flight test demonstration safety, there can be no petty jealousies or competitive arrogance, all survival and safety techniques and skills must be shared by the entire display community.

Lockheed Martin test pilot Wayne Roberts spoke in detail about the quintessential differences in "Displaying Fast Jets and Transports in Military Operations" while Tore Reimers asked, with respect to Shakespeare: “To Display or Not To Display – That is the Question” in which he addressed the fatal accident of Grob’s chief test pilot, Gerard Guillaumaud. The Grob G180 SPn suffered a flutter induced tailplane (elevators and left horizontal stabilizer) separation and crashed during a demonstration flight at the factory at Mindelheim-Mattsies Airport on 29 November 2006.

Delegates were also invited to share their lessons learned during demonstration flying and in this case, flight test engineer Christoph Schlettig gave an in depth description of the handling and performance challenges they faced in their flight test demonstration of the “Solar Impulse Display" at Le Bourget airshow. The Solar Impulse is the latest aerospace engineering innovation designed for ubiquitous twenty-four hours surveillance using solar energy; a wingspan of 63 metres, a takeoff mass of 1600 kg powered by four 10 HP, scooter engines – visionary thinking but presenting a whole new dimension to aircraft handling challenges.

Des Barker from South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) provided the keynote introduction to the workshop by providing ‘A Safety Perspective on Test Pilots in Demonstration Flying" which included a look into the differences in low level demonstration philosophies between test pilots and non test pilots, the suggested selection criteria for flight test demonstration pilots and also proposed the “10 Rules for Display Flying Survival”.

Question raised. Is there a difference in the philosophy of low level demonstrations between test pilots and airshow pilots? Apparently yes. Statistically, it would appear that test pilots were involved in less than 10% of all air exhibition accidents over the past 103 years. Test pilots were the forefathers of airshows/display flying but separated from their non-test pilot brethren many years ago, for obvious reasons in the difference in objectives between flight test demonstrations and airshows.

What is certain is that it has become essential for test pilots to share their experiences and philosophies on risk management and sequence development with non-test pilots. Just maybe, a more scientific/systems engineering orientated approach could provide display pilots with a more holistic understanding of the energy management of each manoeuvre and also their risk budget for each manoeuvre. The entire display community needs to ‘compare notes’ in the way they go about risk management and display sequence planning, it may just be the remedy to ameliorate the unacceptably high loss rate currently on the world’s airshow circuit.

IASSA 2011

The International Aerospace Symposium of South Africa (IASSA) 2011 was held over period 23 to 25 November 2011 in Gauteng at the Royal Elephant Lodge in Centurion. FTSSA members submitted 7 abstracts for consideration by the Technical Committee.

The International Aero-space Symposium of South Africa (IASSA) 2011 is the culmination of the cooperation of a number of leading South African conferences and symposia within the aerospace field. It incorporates the Aeronautical Society’s (AeSSA) annual conference, the 5th Flight Test Society of South Africa (FTSSA) Symposium, the 5th South African International Aerospace Symposium (SAIAS) and the 5th Technical Aerospace and Unmanned Systems Conference (TAUSC).

FTSSA additionally hosted a 2-hour work session on the effects of automation in modern cockpits and to that end, several highly experienced airline pilots and psychologists were invited to participate in a panel discussion. Capt's Laurie Kay, Glen Warden, and Stefan Poprawa and First Officer Preven Naidoo served on the panel in debating the issues of automation addiction with the engineers present.

The annual IASSA papers are peer reviewed papers complying with international standards. Once again, attendance by test pilots was poor. It is essential to understand that test pilots are an integral part of the aircraft design process and a closer relationship with the engineering community is essential to foster an understanding of each other’s terrain. Attendance of such fora through conferences is essential in an effort to advance the cause of flight testing in South Africa. 2012 will present further opportunities for test pilots to engage with the engineering fraternity. Don’t miss out on this opportunity.

NEWS FROM MR UAV – LESTER INGHAM IN USA

The story that I was telling you guys about - here is a link about the Pentagon making a decree that the USAF TPS must train UAV test pilots in the future: .  We here at NTPS have noted the statement that Helms is the nation’s first UAV test pilot, but NTPS has in fact had 3 American UAV test pilots who have been through the year long course.

The term “UAV test pilot” is a bit of a misnomer because their background and training is the same as all other test pilot students and they also graduate as “test pilots”. Only their application after the course will be different and SETP is still unsure about how to deal with them (see the comments by Billie Flynn).

All of the NTPS “UAV test pilot” graduates are employed by government agencies to work on USAF funded UAV projects, but are also active as F16 and F15 pilots in the USAF reserve. I see that the article confirms that the USAF will be training 2 UAV test pilots on each course from now onwards.

Dr Lester Ingham

NTPS

NEWS FROM PIERRE FOUCHE IN CANADA

An update from the Canadian contingent. As you probably know, the Diamond D-jet program hit a speed bump with funding and they have put 230 people on "Temporary" layoff at the end of April 2011 until new funds were secured. The "temporary" part became a bit long for some of us and Loedie, Gerhard and myself landed jobs at Bombardier - Loedie is at their Telemetry Dept. in St Laurent, Montreal (which services most of the Bombardier programs) and Gerhard and I are going to work on the C-series airliner in Montreal. Laurus is still at Diamond (not been layed off) and Kobie was called back to keep the FTI going.

Best Wishes

Pierre Fouche

Aeronautical Society of South Africa

The University Aircraft challenge took place on the afternoon of 25 September 2011 at AFB Swartkops, as part of the IASSA demo day. The enthusiasm of the nine participating teams from different universities was truly remarkable and certainly bodes well for the future of aerospace engineering in South Africa.

Each team was required to design, develop and manufacture their own offering. Prior to flight, a 10 minute presentation on the design was required to be made to a panel of experts.

Competition was fierce with performance ranging from impressive design to in-flight catastrophic failure. Failure is not always bad, failure, in many cases, can serve as a platform of learning and building experience. In the final analysis, the afternoon proved hugely entertaining, both for the teams competing and the spectators present.

FTSSA MEMORABLIA

Membership Certificates

Membership certificates for all Members and Associate Members are available from Karin de Jonge at Incomar. Those who do not collect them directly from Incomar can email your address to Karin for postal delivery.

Overall Patches

FTSSA flight overall patches are still available at R50 each from Karin at INCOMAR or from your Secretary, Graham Roughton at TFDC.

Ties

Blue or black background, are available from Karin at INCOMAR at R150.00 per tie.

Rule 1. Ties MUST be worn to all FTSSA events or risk the fine of one round of drinks – so, BE WARNED!

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D.E. BARKER)

PRESIDENT FTSSA

Tel: +27 012 8414229

Cell: +27 82 6190325

Fax: +27 12 349 156

Email: bishop10@

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Ex-SAAF Cheetah D in formation with Ecuadorian Air Force Kfir. (Ivan Pentz, Denel Aviation)

[pic]The European Flight Test Safety Award was founded by the fiancée of test pilot Gerard Guillaumaud, Ms Heidi Biermeier, after the fatal flight test demo accident of the Grob SPn. Recipients must be individuals who have made significant contributions in the area of safety within flight testing.

[pic]Lockheed F-16 chief test pilot Billie Flynn (recipient 2010), presented the SETP European Flight Test Safety Award 2011 to Maj Gen Barker (SAAF Rtd) of the CSIR. Flanked by Ms Heidi Biermeir, Aviation Management and Communication, the award founder, and Cessna chief test pilot, Maurice Girard, President of the Flight Test Safety Committee.

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Graham Roughton addressing IASSA 2011 on “The Integration of the A-Darter Short Range Air-Air Missile on the Gripen Fighter”.

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Dr Danie Villjoen, Denel Aviation presented on “Avionics Flight Testing in the Systems Engineering Process”.

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FTSSA Panel discussion on “Automation Addiction in Modern Airliners”, Des Barker, Capt Stefaan Poprawa (SAA), Capt Laurie Kay (SAA), Capt Glen Warden (BA/Comair Training Captain)

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h×]•hk¯-jhñ8'5?CJU[pic]^J[?]aJmHnHsH u[pic]jh_U—UUniversity students demonstrating catastrophic structural failure in flight. Most probably first year’s. Hopefully their design skills will improve before they graduate.

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