Canada’s National Research Council will make a key contribution to one of the world’s most advanced business jet programmes following Bombardier’s decision to test the high-lift behaviour of the new all-composite Learjet 85 in one of the wind tunnels at the NRC centre in Ottawa.
Models of the new bizjet will go into NRC’s 1.5m-diameter tri-sonic tunnel for tests of the high-lift systems. The Learjet 85 is the fourth Bombardier type to get the NRC treatment in the past 15 years, following the Global Express and Challenger 300 business jets and CRJ700 regional jet.
“With its high-Reynolds-number capability, our 1.5m tunnel provides a reliable, affordable way to develop regional and business jets,” says NRC aerodynamics laboratory director Dr Steve Zan. “Clients can be confident that what works in the tunnel will work in flight.”
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Other recent NRC developments include the acquisition of an Extra 300 high-performance aerobatic aircraft for aeromedical research. The German-manufactured aircraft was chosen for its proven aerobatic performance and easy handling.
“Aeromedicine is an increasingly important field in flight research,” says Stewart Baillie, director of the NRC’s flight research laboratory. “We will use the Extra to look at the physiological and psychological effects of flight in high-performance aircraft, something which is largely unexplored at sustained accelerations above 4g.”
With room for a pilot and a safety pilot, the Extra 300 can pull plus or minus 10g with full aerobatic agility. It is expected to be less expensive to operate than the other aircraft in the NRC fleet, making it suitable for a wide range of general-aviation research, training and evaluation tasks.
Source: Flight International
