Graham Warwick
Flight testing of the F-22 Raptor is "on track" to meet a December deadline set by US Congress.
The legislators want to be convinced that the stealthy air superiority fighter is meeting its performance goals before releasing money for production.
Paul Metz, Lockheed Martin's F-22 chief test pilot, says that the US Air Force has asked the test team to log the 183 flight test hours required by Congress "by Thanksgiving" - late November - to ensure that funds for the first two production-standard F-22s are released early in the New Year.
Satellite
"We will get 183h, no problem," US Air Force F-22 test pilot Steve Raimey reported yesterday by live satellite link to the show from the Edwards AFB, California, test centre, where the two F-22s now flying have between them logged 60h in the air.
In addition to Congress's flight-hours hurdle, the team also has several key test goals to complete before money is released for the first two "production representative" F-22s.
These include the first supersonic flight, expected in October, and opening and closing the weapon bay doors in flight.
Attack
Flying above 18° angle of attack is another required test point, which Raimey said the second F-22, aircraft 4002, is expected to achieve later this week on the way to reaching 26° in October. The requirement to demonstrate aerial refuelling has been achieved already, and allowed 4002 to be ferried to Edwards last month to join the first F-22, aircraft 4001.
Metz, Raimey and Boeing F-22 project pilot Chuck Killberg praised the F-22's handling qualities. One minor problem, described by Metz as "roll jerk", is caused by the rudders being more powerful than required and will be cured by modifying the fly-by-wire software. "The rudders are exactly as effective as the windtunnel said they would be, but that was not so on the [YF-22] prototype, so we made them more powerful. It turns out we didn't need to," he says.
Source: Flight Daily News
