Peter Henley/WOODFORD
Generations of test pilots have enjoyed varied and rewarding careers at the Avro Flight Test Centre (FTC), Woodford, in northern England. The FTC now, however, has roles and expertise far more complex than in the past. This is partly attributable to the march of technology, but also through the necessity to make better use of the resources. It now offers third party flight test services and expertise over a huge range of specialisations. As chief test pilot Allistair McDicken says: "We have only one answer: 'Yes'."
The centre is part of Avro International Aerospace, a division of British Aerospace Regional Aircraft. Woodford was born in 1925 when Alliott Verdon Roe, the first Englishman to build and fly his own aeroplane, bought a property called New Hall Farm and turned about 160Ha (400 acres) into an aerodrome at which to base his aircraft manufacturing business. Aircraft as varied as the Anson, Lancaster, Vulcan and 748 made their early flights from Woodford's runways. Test pilots there have carried out development test flying, production testing, demonstrations to potential customers, displays at international air shows and aircraft delivery to customers all over the world.
The present FTC is designed to gain the maximum return from investment and resources, in terms of real estate, technology and expertise. The movement rate which the airfield enjoyed as a BAe manufacturing and testing base did not justify even the fixed costs of air traffic control and crash and rescue services or fire cover.
By inviting "lodger" businesses to Woodford, far greater use of the airfield and its facilities is being made. Aviation Manchester (a general aviation company) and the International Test Pilots' School are resident in the FTC complex, resulting in a doubling of airfield movements.
The other specialisations needed to support test flying - flight test engineering and data processing - also involve heavy expenditure on facilities, equipment and personnel. There are often times when spare capacity can be sold to other organisations.
VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE
McDicken graduated from the Empire Test Pilots' School at Boscombe Down in 1974. He served there for two years as a test pilot with Royal Air Force B squadron, then joined BAe Woodford in the early 1980s. He has built up formidable experience during his career, including, extra-murally, three seasons flying the Shuttleworth Collection of historic aeroplanes.
A firm advocate of variety in a test pilot's career in a world moving increasingly towards specialisation, McDicken keeps current on about six different types. The test pilots working for him have similarly broad currency. Such "multi-currencies" are, of course, only possible (outside military test flying) with aircraft being flown under "B Conditions" - that is to say, unregistered aircraft without a certificate of airworthiness being flown for the purposes of experimental, development or production test flying. Organisations which do such work must, like Avro, be approved by the Civil Aviation Authority.
Focusing upon only one or two types of aircraft has in recent years begun to be common in test flying. Today's test pilots progressively more often tend to specialise in development or production flying, and to be constrained to one type in the pursuit of continuity and the rapid progression of a programme. Responsibility is often subdivided further within one aircraft type's test programme, so that different pilots within a team will have responsibility for specific development work - handling qualities, performance or avionics, for example.
Such focus is sometimes appropriate and unavoidable to achieve the timely and effective testing of a new type or specific development. A basic tenet of test flying remains, however, that broad experience on different types is essential to the test pilot's analytical role and ability to compare good, bad and indifferent qualities in a range of aircraft.
The huge "New Assembly" building (still one of the largest single production structures in the UK) was built at the outbreak of the Second World War. Sometimes as many as 47 Lancasters rolled off the production lines in one week. Since then, it has housed the production lines for the Shackleton and the Vulcan.
McDicken argues that "-test is a process", and that flight testing is merely an airborne extension of any number of ground-based testing protocols. He has consequently assumed responsibility within his department for a wide spectrum of testing - and this is reflected in the all-embracing designation of the department as Avrotest. The scope of the work includes the testing of hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, pressure and temperature measuring systems.
There is a metallurgy laboratory able to undertake corrosion, hardness and conductivity testing, and another laboratory for fire, smoke and toxicity testing. Closer to the flight testing mainstream, there are facilities for structural test, impact testing (including bird strikes) and strain measurement. All these disciplines are underwritten by comprehensively equipped workshops and highly qualified staff, and many of the services offered have capabilities useful to non-aerospace industries.
AVROTEST STRUCTURE
The departmental structure of Avrotest, therefore, includes a strong marketing component. For business purposes, McDicken reports to the Customer Process Group director but, on flight safety issues, he reports directly to the chief executive. Specialist managers within Avrotest oversee the functions of business support, technical support, ground test and flight test engineering.
The Avro FTC's modus operandum differs from that of test centres in the past, because it has broader responsibilities and a directive to earn its keep as a unit. The traditional flight testing ethos, nevertheless, sits happily alongside the new business concept. Much of the traditional way of testing aeroplanes was well conceived and proven - and has been kept, but enhanced with modern technology and techniques.
The test pilots are CAA approved graduates of recognised flight test schools. They have both broad and in-depth experience covering development, certification and production flight testing, while also being highly proficient at pilot training, demonstration, display flying and ferrying. The FTC's flight test engineers are experienced at flight trials management and planning.
Flight test equipment, often designed and built in-house, includes specialist packages for icing instrumentation, video systems and other data acquisition and recording, including the innovative compact disc, which replaces traditional magnetic tape recorders. Avrotest employs 115 people, including three test pilots, six training captains and five flight test engineers. The majority, however, are spread among the supporting disciplines.
The Avro RJ is the core business of the FTC today, especially since the proposal to replace it with the Avro International (Regional) Airjet has been cancelled. The longstanding options to give it a new wing and two engines instead of four are once more under consideration. The FTC has also assumed responsibility for BAe Prestwick's flight testing, including Jetstream 31 and 32 performance improvements. Also a Jetstream 41 Marine Fisheries Patrol derivative is undergoing development testing before delivery to the Hong Kong Government.
BAe's Asset Management Organisation has recently been successful in placing used 146s, ATPs and Jetstreams, so the FTC has been well exercised in ferrying aircraft worldwide. Meanwhile, although the Nimrod 2000 programme (the replacement aircraft for the RAF's current maritime Nimrod) will be managed by BAe Warton, the Woodford FTC test pilots and test crews will be undertaking the certification performance and handling tests on the first prototype, due for its maiden flight in 2000.
The healthy status of the FTC's in-house activities enables it to offer third party flight test expertise. Aircraft can be provided as air test vehicles to test customers' products and services. Flight trials planning and management is available, including specifying and providing equipment, and is fully compliant with national and international safety regulations.
Recent projects have been as diverse as investigations into RJ wing icing and help with Richard Branson's round the world hot air balloon. The inventory of aeroplanes available to the FTC allows experience in multi-engined types to be negotiated for the resident International Test Pilots' School, while the Avro test pilots contribute their expertise to the school's classroom tutorials.
Much attention has been given to the efficiency of the flight testing and to safety. The RJ was the first aircraft worldwide to have a new system certificated using the in-house developed optical data recording technology. A flat screen has been developed as part of the suite of airborne monitoring systems test equipment and is mounted in the cockpit to provide the test pilot with easy to read parameters for each test point - such as angle of attack, side slip, rudder angle and control forces. Today, test points are completed faster and are less likely to need to be repeated.
'THE QUIZ'
A simple but effective briefing tool has been introduced in the form of a "flight test briefing checklist". There is no high technology in this; It is merely a paper checklist ("the quiz") which ensures that all safety aspects of the proposed flight have been considered. Typical items on the checklist Include:
have there been any significant breakdowns (to aircraft systems) since the last flight? is the purpose of the test understood? has the predicted effect of any modification been considered? have any specific or unusual limitations been discussed? have criteria for discontinuing a test been agreed? do the airfield services need to be informed? have any escape drills been rehearsed?In addition to such in-house safety procedures, the FTC seeks involvement in flight test safety seminars and exchange of procedures and techniques with other flight testing organisations and schools. The FTC conforms to ISO 9000 procedures and processes and has CAA F1 approval (flight test of own designs) and F2 approval (flight test of other organisations' designs). Manufacturers Embraer, Pilatus and Shorts hire Centre personnel.
To an outsider, the organisation looks to be dynamic, energetic and here to stay. The future will depend on the commercial success of the present organisation in securing outside business and its capability as part of the Woodford team concerned with designing, producing and marketing Avro's future products. As McDicken says: "We are solution orientated, we criticise constructively, yet we would not sacrifice technical integrity by yielding to commercial forces."
Source: Flight International