German aerospace centre DLR has begun flying a Eurocopter EC135 equipped with a flight-control system that could teach test pilots to fly different types of rotorcraft. The research helicopter has entered flight testing after problems with its fly-by-light (FBL) control system were finally overcome earlier this year.
The EC135 has a model-following control system that can modify the helicopter's dynamic characteristics to make the pilots feel as if they are flying a different vehicle, for example a tandem-rotor Boeing Chinook. The FBL system links the pilot controls to onboard computers, which in turn are linked to smart-material actuators, rather than hydraulics.
DLR researcher and aeronautical engineer Mario Hamers says it took 18 months to get the FBL system problem-free: "We found some problems that were not major, but had to be repaired. We had months of testing. We are flying every day now."
DLR had to solve problems with the infrared transmitters connected to the FBL's systems optical fibres, which replace the electrical signalling used in a fly-by-wire control system.
Flight testing now under way is being carried out at DLR's facility in Braunschweig in northern Germany. The research is financed jointly by DLR, Eurocopter, Liebherr Aerospace and the German ministry of defence.
ROB COPPINGER / LONDON
Source: Flight International
