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At least 1,477 records · Page 82
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1937

Flight Tests of the Drag and Torque of the Propeller in Terminal-Velocity Dives

The drag and torque of a controllable propeller at various blade-angle settings, and under various diving conditions, were measured by indirect method on F6C-4 airplane in flight. The object of these tests were (1) to provide data on which calculations of the terminal velocity with a throttled engine and the accompanying engine speed could be based and (2) to determine the possibility of utilizing the propeller as an air brake to reduce the terminal velocity. The data obtained were used in the establishment of propeller charts, on the basis of which the terminal velocity and engine speed could be calculated for airplanes whose characteristics fall within the range of these tests. A method is given for the calculation of the terminal velocity with throttled engine and the engine speed.

Rhode, Ricahrd V↗
NASA NTRS1953

The Drag of Finite-length Cylinders Determined from Flight Tests at High Reynolds Numbers for a Mach Number Range from 0.5 to 1.3

Results of a free-flight investigation to determine the drag of circular, finite-length cylinders are presented for a Mach number range from about 0.5 to 1.3. Also included are drag results of previous experimental tests of infinite-length cylinders. Drag of circular cylinders at supersonic speeds is largely independent of fineness ratio and Reynolds number; whereas, at subsonic speeds, the drag of finite-length cylinders (fineness rations of about 60 and below) increases as their fineness ratios increase.

BODIES - FINENESS RATIO↗
NASA NTRS1992

The Enhanced Flight Screener Operational Demonstration Flight Test Program

Over the years the United States Air Force has purchased several types of commercially available aircraft that have served in many different roles. Despite the requirements for significant modifications in some cases, these aircraft can often meet the needs of the Air Force while costing far less than a new aircraft development program. The 4950th Test Wing at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio is the center of expertise for testing commercially available aircraft for selected USAF missions. Part of the selection process requires an operational demonstration, which is a "fly-off" competition open to aircraft that any offerer may present as suitable for a specific mission. The candidate aircraft are subjected to a limited performance and flying qualities evaluation with emphasis on the operational requirements specified by the Air Force gaining command. This paper reports on the operational demonstration conducted to support a source selection to select the Enhanced Flight Screener (EFS) aircraft which will be used as a primary flight aptitude screener to replace the T-41 currently in use. During the EFS operational demonstration, eight aircraft were evaluated over a period of six weeks, making this one of the most complex fly-offs conducted by the 4950th Test Wing to date. This paper presents a management overview, test measurements and techniques, and lessons learned from this program.

Flight Testing↗
NASA NTRS1977

Flight-test evaluation of two electronic display formats for approach to landing under instrument conditions

The results of a flight evaluation of two electronic display formats for the approach to landing under instrument conditions are presented. The evaluation was conducted for a base-line electronic display format and for the same format with runway symbology and track information added. The evaluation was conducted during 3 deg, manual straight-in approaches with and without initial localizer offsets. Flight path tracking performance data and pilot subjective comments were examined with regard to the pilot's ability to capture and maintain localizer and glide slope by using both display formats.

Morello, S. A.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Ground and flight test experience with a triple redundant digital fly by wire control system

A triplex digital fly by wire flight control system was developed and installed in an F-8C aircraft to provide fail operative, full authority control. Hardware and software redundancy management techniques were designed to detect and identify failures in the system. Control functions typical of those projected for future actively controlled vehicles were implemented.

Jarvis, C. R.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Estimation of aerodynamic characteristics from dynamic flight test data

Significant effort was spent in estimating unknown aircraft coefficients, such as stability and control derivatives from dynamic flight maneuvers. The techniques used to estimate these coefficients are becoming increasingly complex; however, these techniques make it possible to obtain estimates of coefficients that in the past were nearly impossible to obtain. A survey of the investigations that were undertaken to obtain estimates of coefficients from dynamic flight maneuvers is presented. One method, the maximum likelihood estimation technique, is described briefly and some of the successful applications of the technique are presented. Possible techniques for analyzing responses obtained in the stall/spin regime are discussed. Recent data obtained in the stall/spin flight regime are presented along with a discussion of how some basic results can be obtained with simple analysis techniques.

Liff, K. W.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Flight Testing of an Airport Surface Guidance, Navigation, and Control System

This document describes operations associated with a set of flight experiments and demonstrations using a Boeing-757-200 (B-757) research aircraft as part of low visibility landing and surface operations (LVLASO) research activities. To support this experiment, the B-757 performed flight and taxi operations at the Hartsfield-Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, GA. The B-757 was equipped with experimental displays that were designed to provide flight crews with sufficient information to enable safe, expedient surface operations in any weather condition down to a runway visual range (RVR) of 300 feet. In addition to flight deck displays and supporting equipment onboard the B-757, there was also a ground-based component of the system that provided for ground controller inputs and surveillance of airport surface movements. The integrated ground and airborne components resulted in a system that has the potential to significantly improve the safety and efficiency of airport surface movements particularly as weather conditions deteriorate. Several advanced technologies were employed to show the validity of the operational concept at a major airport facility, to validate flight simulation findings, and to assess each of the individual technologies performance in an airport environment. Results show that while the maturity of some of the technologies does not permit immediate implementation, the operational concept is valid and the performance is more than adequate in many areas.

Young, Steven D.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Use of Acoustic Wind Profilers for Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Flight Test Activities

Sonic detection and ranging (SODAR) systems provide crucial information to meteorologists for advising uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) flight crews and mission directors on historical, current, and forecasted wind and turbulence conditions. The SODAR system provided advanced warning of increasing surface winds for an X-38 flight on February 6, 1999. The SODAR system has also provided important postflight data for X-38 engineers to review the performance of the parafoil in the presence of strong wind shears near the surface at landing.

Donnohue, Casey J.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Qualification flight tests of the Viking decelerator system.

The Balloon Launched Decelerator Test (BLDT) series conducted at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) during July and August of 1972 flight qualified the NASA Viking '75 decelerator system at conditions bracketing those expected for Mars. This paper discusses the decelerator system design requiremnts, compares the test results with prior work, and discusses significant considerations leading to successful qualification in earth's atmosphere. The Viking decelerator system consists of a single-stage mortar-deployed 53-foot nominal diameter disk-gap-band parachute. Full-scale parachutes were deployed behind a full-scale simulated Viking vehicle at Mach numbers from 0.47 to 2.18 and dynamic pressures from 6.9 to 14.6 psf. Analyses show that the system is qualified with sufficient margin to perform successfully for the Viking mission.

Moog, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1951

Results of Flight Tests to Determine Drag of Parabolic and Cone-cylinder Bodies of Very Large Fineness Ratios at Supersonic Speeds

Results of a free-flight investigation at supersonic speeds to determine zero-lift drag of a series of bodies of revolution are presented. Configurations tested included two parabolic bodies with fineness ratios of 17.78 and 24.5 and two 8 degree cone-cylinder bodies with fineness ratios of 17.2 and 21.2. Results of previous tests of similar parabolic bodies but with lower fineness ratios are included in this paper for comparison. All bodies for which data are presented in this paper had a base-to-maximum-diameter ratio of 0.437. Calculated drag coefficients are shown for all bodies for which data are presented. (author)

Welsh, Clement J↗
NASA NTRS1985

Fluctuating pressures on fan blades of a turbofan engine, flight test investigation

Miniature pressure transducers were used to measure the fluctuating pressure on the fan blades of a JT15D engine in flight to aid in understanding fan-noise generation. Although the blade pressures can be considered very useful in determining far-field noise sources in the subsonic fan-blade tip speeds, other mechanisms, and as shock waves in the transonic and supersonic fan-blade tip speeds, limit their usefulness in these higher speed ranges.

Schoenster, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Flight test summary of modified fuel systems

Two different aircraft designs, each with two modified fuel control systems, were evaluated. Each aircraft was evaluated in a given series of defined ground and flight conditions while quantitative and qualitative observations were made. During this program, some ten flights were completed, and a total of about 13 hours of engine run time was accumulated by the two airplanes. The results of these evaluations with emphasis on the operational and safety aspects were analyzed. Ground tests of the engine alone were not able to predict acceptable limiting lean mixture settings for the flight envelopes of the Cessna Models 150 and T337.

Barrett, B. G.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Flight test validation of a design procedure for digital autopilots

Commercially available general aviation autopilots are currently in transition from an analogue circuit system to a computer implemented digital flight control system. Well known advantages of the digital autopilot include enhanced modes, self-test capacity, fault detection, and greater computational capacity. A digital autopilot's computational capacity can be used to full advantage by increasing the sophistication of the digital autopilot's chief function, stability and control. NASA's Langley Research Center has been pursuing the development of direct digital design tools for aircraft stabilization systems for several years. This effort has most recently been directed towards the development and realization of multi-mode digital autopilots for GA aircraft, conducted under a SPIFR-related program called the General Aviation Terminal Operations Research (GATOR) Program. This presentation focuses on the implementation and testing of a candidate multi-mode autopilot designed using these newly developed tools.

Bryant, W. H.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Flight Test Design and Implementation for Airspace Independent Surveillance Through a Distributed Ground Based Sensor Network

The paper presents a system architecture for distributed sensing, networking and computing, its hardware implementation, and execution of initial flight experiments to validate theoretical findings. It induces development of distributed sensing requirements, framework, and architecture, development of distributed ground node hardware prototypes, integration of all nodes and testing of baseline functionalities, integration of in-house developed perception, migration and tracking software packages, establishing flight scenario and flyable path for a selected UAS, flying the air vehicle along the path, recording sensors measurements, pre-processing them and transferring the resulting data to an optimal computing center. It also addresses the challenges related to pre-flight hardware calibration, clock synchronization, sensor registration and establishing a communication network. Sensors data processing results demonstrate the functionality of the presented distributed architecture and satisfactory performance of the applied technologies.

Target tracking↗
NASA NTRS1976

Flight test evaluation of a separate surface attitude command control system on a Beech 99 airplane

A joint NASA/university/industry program was conducted to flight evaluate a potentially low cost separate surface implementation of attitude command in a Beech 99 airplane. Saturation of the separate surfaces was the primary cause of many problems during development. Six experienced professional pilots made simulated instrument flight evaluations in light-to-moderate turbulence. They were favorably impressed with the system, particularly with the elimination of control force transients that accompanied configuration changes. For ride quality, quantitative data showed that the attitude command control system resulted in all cases of airplane motion being removed from the uncomfortable ride region.

Gee, S. W.↗