Rotary Wing Performance Flight Test

This course provides an overview of rotary wing aircraft performance flight testing. The main performance subjects are covered, starting with rotor performance theory, and passing through the helicopter flight phases including hover, vertical climb, level flight, climbs and descents. The engine performance and Engine and Rotor Governing assessment (ERGA) are also covered. The course includes a mixture of theoretical lectures and tutorials/workshops where students create their data reduction template files for their subsequent flight exercises, using real flight data examples. Instruction focuses on flight test methods, test planning, data acquisition and analysis. Participants are also introduced to civil specification for rotary wing aircraft (CS27/29), military specifications and methods of demonstrating compliance when testing a new or modified aircraft.