Flight test assignment modules in a senior technical elective/graduate flight dynamics course
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Local and regional aircraft companies hire Wichita State University graduates as flight test engineers for development, certification and production flight testing for various aircraft programs. Some, after significant further pilot training and experience, have moved into roles as flight test as well as commercial and military pilots. Textron Aviation and Bombardier-Learjet are the largest local employers of WSU flight test engineers, Bell Helicopter is a regional employer, and Boeing is a national employer. Some of these companies requested that introductory material on flight testing be incorporated into our curriculum, to expose and promote flight testing as a career for our graduates. Balaji Kartikeyan was a graduate student at WSU who was also in his 2nd year as an intern in flight test at Bombardier. He and Jim Steck, who teaches and does research in aircraft design, flight dynamics and flight controls, 4 years ago, developed a flight test homework assignment for a junior level flight dynamics course, and, more importantly, 4 flight test modules/assignments to be included in the senior/graduate intermediate flight dynamics course. These modules were refined and taught by Alok Menon in the Fall of 2023 and are presented here as well as feedback from students about the modules. An introduction to “what-is” flight testing is included, along with a brief review of existing flight test curricula in academia.
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September 8 2024 through September 10 2024
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