Cost effective flight testing and certification in a small but ambitious Air Force

Authors
G.J. Kobus, Military Aviation Authority, Certification Team Lead, The Netherlands
P. Koks, National Aerospace Laboratory NLR, Flight Test Systems and Applications Department, NLR Project Leader “Orange Jumper” F-16 test aircraft, The Netherlands

Abstract

The motto of the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) reads “Parvus numero - Magnus merito” meaning “Small in number - Great in merit”. This motto implies that it is the ambition of the RNLAF to incorporate new developments and modifications on their aircraft in a cost and time effective manner. The introduction of the Military Airworthiness Regulations (MAR-21) in the past decade marked the beginning of a new era. In order to support several F-16 certification programmes the RNLAF has a small and efficient Flight Test Organization (FTO), which oper-ates an instrumented F-16BM test aircraft, nicknamed the “Orange Jumper”.

From the start of the flight test instrumentation system design process, strict configuration con-trol rules were applied. This enabled the team to complete the modification of the aircraft and the airworthiness certification as scheduled and to produce a complete certification data package as well as maintenance procedures. The result is a state of the art test aircraft, which fully main-tained its operational capabilities. When it is not participating in a test programme, the test air-craft is operated by the 323rd Squadron by regular pilots and maintenance personnel.

The flight test team consists of a small number of people from the air staff, DMO, Air Base Leeuwarden and NLR. Within the preparation and execution of flight test programmes this team closely cooperates with the Military Aviation Authority (MAA) during the approval process of design changes and flight test plans. Within this group, consisting of approximately 10 people, each member has its own task, responsibility and clear mandate. This results in a quick, safe and efficient decision making process. Applying this methodology the team has been able to success-fully cooperate with the USAF Seek Eagle Office in several joint test programmes.

Within the multidisciplinary team all new test requirements can be discussed freely and with an open mind. At the same time the team is very much aware of the risks as well as the technical and financial boundaries posed by the programme. For instance, “flight envelope expansion” for the F-16 will not be considered. On the other hand, certification of new stores within the F-16 flight envelope has been demonstrated on numerous occasions and sometimes surprising results were found in already cleared store carriage and employment flight envelopes.
This paper will:

• Describe the introduction of airworthiness regulations in the RNLAF;
• Describe the F-16 flight test organization (FTO) in the RNLAF;
• Describe, as an example, the certification process of the RecceLite system for the RNLAF.