Bringing A Flight Test Technique Into An Operational Eurofighter Squadron

Hannes Rotering, DLR, German Aerospace Center, Institute of Flight Systems, Manching, Germany
Ina Rüdinger, DLR, German Aerospace Center, Institute of Flight Systems, Manching, Germany
Tobias Walzer, Eurofighter System Support Center, Manching, Germany

Abstract

In 2012 the need arose to determine the performance of the Eurofighter’s air data system by means of tower fly‐bys under very strict regulations and with a significant number of aircraft – namely the whole German fleet. It was evident right away that it was not feasible to perform all tests at the test center in Manching without creating a logistic nightmare and a heavy interference with the squadron’s schedule. As a consequence, it was decided to go where no one has gone before and perform these delicate tests with operational pilots and in the four Eurofighter squadrons.

The implementation of the flight test technique was a common effort of the German Eurofighter National Support Center (NSC EF), the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the German Test Center (WTD 61). The integration into the squadrons led to several technical and organisational challenges – such as the question how adequate data can be collected without flight test instrumentation and without the infrastructure and the procedures of a test center. The challenges led to many creative solutions. One example is the geometric height of the aircraft during the tower fly‐by above the static pressure reference. This parameter was determined based on a mixture of a Flight Profile Recorder (FPR) GPS signal for the aircraft position combined with RADAR altimeter data and precision DGPS measurements of the equipment’s position on the control tower. A detailed map of the runway height above the WGS 84 ellipsoid enabled the elimination of potential runway slope-induced biases.

This paper presents a wrap‐up of the integration process for the tests with a strong focus on practical considerations and a short introduction of the ABACUS software which was created to enable an automatic evaluation of the flight test data with reasonable manual backup.