Читать книгу Introduction to Flight Testing - James W. Gregory - Страница 21

Within the US military, a significant amount of time and energy are invested in development test and evaluation (DT&E) flight testing. This aspect of flight testing involves a careful assessment of how an aircraft flies, including evaluation of aircraft performance, stability, and handling qualities. DT&E also includes performance assessment of new weapons, new software, and new airframes. These tests are centered on assessment of compliance with performance standards and focus on identifying anomalies in new systems. Test pilots (see Figure 1.13) push the performance limits of the system and are often involved in test planning very early in the design cycle. For example, if a new weapon system is designed for an aircraft, the developmental test pilot will evaluate the separation characteristics, compatibility of the new weapon with the aircraft system across a wide range of flight conditions, and evaluation of flutter flight characteristics. This testing and evaluation are done through a gradual build‐up approach that minimizes (but does not eliminate) risk.