Preliminary report on in-flight measurement of rotor hub drag and lift using the RSRA

The Rotor Systems Research Aircraft (RSRA) is a compound helicopter that was test flown as a fixed wing aircraft, with the main rotor blades removed and the rotor hub installed. An onboard rotor load measurement system measured the resulting rotor hub drag and lift. Measured hub drag and lift are plotted for comparison to that predicted by full scale and 1/6 scale model wind tunnel tests. The success of the demonstration gives confidence that planned improvements to the RSRA will allow high accuracy hub drag and lift measurements to be made in flight on a routine research basis.