Chapter 30 - Future Trends

The world of the Flight Test Engineer (FTE) has always been one of change. Looking back, the Wright Brothers' first flight in 1903 did not have a test range (although they did measure the distance flown - probably with a surveyor's chain - and took documentary pictures) nor did they have any special flight test instrumentation. Up until the first supersonic flight in 1947, there was little call for aircraft range support or for special instrumentation - the instrumentation system was notes on a pilot's or engineer's knee-board, or photographs of the pilot's panel or a duplicate set of the pilot's instruments. However, with the rapidly growing capability and complexity of the test aircraft, it was now necessary to provide an "automated" means of acquiring the data that was changing too fast for the pilot to record it and consequently, photo-observer panels and/or oscillographic recorders became common. The advent of missiles required the development of telemetry and accurate real-time Time-Space-Position Information (TSPI). With the advent of the "X" type aircraft and their high risk missions, the use of telemetry to provide pilot advisory information, assist in flight safety, and to assure that data were obtained became commonplace. The introduction of tape systems, computers, and miniaturized components also drove the need for more sophistication in the range - acquiring telemetry data in ever increasing quantities, rates, and accuracy, using space positioning instrumentation to provide TSPI rather than just providing pointing or air traffic control, etc. The advent of large missiles and space flight required another large step in the complexity and quantity of instrumentation and expanded range capability.

There was a major change in flight testing and th e FTEs job resulting from the marriage of digital data recording and computer processing. Reading film and analog traces, manipulating data using slide-rules and mechanical calculators, and then hand-plotting the results quickly became a thing of the past. Instead the FTEs "got anything they wanted/plotted any way they wanted it". This massive increase in data, almost immediate availability in engineering units or reduced to standard day conditions, and plotted in a
desired format changed the face of flight testing in that post-flight data processing and reporting was no longer seen as the critical path. The FTE is under increasing pressure to adopt a "pre-programmed" approach and minimize the number of sorties flown to achieve a given objective. "Simple" go/no-go criteria are preferred to extended team discussions of interim results before proceeding to the next sortie.

This section will discuss the trends that are occurring in the test community today that will impact the processes whereby the FTE accomplishes his work.