Title: Helicopter Autorotation Flight Test Using CCSU Flight Simulator
Abstract: Occasionally, helicopter pilots encounter emergency situations, such as a total loss of power due to engine failure. In such dire situations, autorotation flight for a safe landing is the only viable way to save the passengers and the aircraft. Pilots and engineers specifically focus on this unique safety requirement during flight training. Instrumentation package for recording flight test parameters are important safety measures to alert pilots during the training. Test parameters of interest include pilot controls, engine shaft horsepower, main rotor torque, rotor thrust, forward airspeed, altitude, aircraft attitudes, and rate of descent. These parameters are monitored on-line and concurrently displayed on the screen for visualization to enhance flight safety. The goal of this research is to gather plenty of autorotation test data using a CCSU manufactured full-scale helicopter simulator as a test bed for pilot training. This data will be used as a teaching tool to adequately build up helicopter flight envelopes. Student pilots flying autorotation maneuver and analyzing test data afterward receive in-depth understanding of the engine failure characteristics with various flight conditions. Five autorotation safe landing tests have been conducted with low, mid, and heavy gross weight configurations and three sets of test data are presented in the paper.
Publication Year: 2021
Publication Date: 2021-01-04
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 2
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