Flight Envelope Expansion in the Light of Flight Test Performance and Safety

Hans-Christoph Oelker, Expert Flight Physics, Airbus Defence and Space, Manching, Germany

Abstract

The motto of this conference “Flight Test, keeping the balance between Performance and Safety” reflects a day-to-day challenge of any flight test organisation. The core process “enve- lope expansion” is a highly interlaced process between test safety, technical requirements (specification, operation), and time requirements (program issues). This paper will briefly focus on processes and their interaction. It will schematically sketch incremental envelope expansion steps, explain how a flight clearance is part of the process, and how an operational flight clearance is achieved via carefree handling and operational handling qualities testing. And finally a balancing of all process elements will be discussed.