NAL successfully tests LCA O/B Elevon Box at hot wet conditions

Test setup of static strength test of Elevon box

It was a great day on friday the 17 April 2009, for the SIG group of STTD division, NAL Bangalore for successfully completed the static strength tests of LCA O/B Elevon Box at hot wet conditions
The test article tested was an Outboard Elevon box of LCA which was tested at hot wet conditions to ascertain its static strength ,before which the test box was aged for several months for moisture absorption . The Elevon box was tested for a few critical loadcases upto design limit load and finally tested for the design ultimate load for one of the most critical loadcases.
A robust test rig was designed for the testing of the elevon box which is shown in the above figure . An environmental chamber was built around the test box using high temperature polythene sheet for the circulation of steam around the box for maintaining the required temperature and humidity. The test rig and the fixtures was designed in- house in the division.
"The test article was loaded for100% DLL and was further continued to go to 150% DLL which is the design ultimate load and the test box survived that load level without any failure or amage and it was a success"said the Scientist in charge of the test Mr. M Mohan kumar .
It was observed that the strains at the critical locations monitored were well below the limits
and was not of any concern. The good thing that came out from this test was that the elevon box was able to take the ultimate loads at the aged conditions without even a small snag as the earlier experiences in testing the same elevon box at room temperature had some design issues
As an implication of these tests ,the LCA design team are assured of theLCA wing component elevon box strength capability in the worst operating conditions involving high temperatutre and humidity conditions.

A380 completes wing static test

The Airbus A380 was put through a static wing load test at the Airbus static test facility in Toulouse, France. One of the A380's wings snapped between the inbound and outbound engines at an applied pressure of about 96.67 percent of the ultimate load. Airbus vice president for engineering, Alain Garcia, felt the wing test had been a success since the rupture occurred "within 3 percent of the target." Garcia also predicted that the wing's failure will require "essentially no modifications" to production aircraft. Chief officer John Leahy recently added that the wing failure was "not a big problem at all."The ultimate load has a built in safety factor of one-and-a-half times the limit load, which is the highest aerodynamic load expected during an aircraft's lifetime of normal service. When the same test was conducted on an Airbus A330 in 1992, the wing failed just below its target load just as the A380. As American Airlines Flight 587 took off from JFK on November 12, 2001, the tail of an A300-600R had snapped off. This tragedy killed 265 people, a small number compared to the potential 853 passengers on the A380.Although not subject to operationally realistic temperature and humidity conditions, the Airbus A300 had been fully tested to ultimate load, 1.5 times the estimated limit load. Unfortunately, Airbus had clearly underestimated even the limit loads for the A300.Last fall, FedEx maintenance workers found a three-foot section of the rudder had begun to break apart on one of its Airbus jets. This discovery comes after a nearly identical Airbus lost its rudder during a flight from Cuba to Canada in early 2005. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that the rudders of many Airbus passenger jets are made of composite plastic that appears to be dangerously prone to disintegrating. The 2001 crash and a March 25 recommendation on safety posted by the NTSB raise questions about maximum capabilities, or "limit load," of many Airbus aircraft, said Robert Spragg, an aviation lawyer in the Manhattan firm, Kreindler and Kreindler. "If there are a number of events where the limit load is exceeded, that would draw into question Airbus Industries' initial calculations," Spragg said. In a recent Airbus safety drill in Hamburg, Germany, which tested how long it would take to evacuate a fully loaded A380 with half of the exits blocked, 32 volunteers suffered minor injuries, and one man broke his leg. Airbus manager Gustav Humber said, "That was a very great success."No American carriers have so far placed orders for any A380's

North Korea tests long-range missile

North Korea test-fired a long-range missile and five shorter-range rockets early Wednesday, but the closely watched long-range test failed within a minute, U.S. officials said.
The tests began shortly after 3:30 a.m. local time (2:30 p.m. Tuesday ET) and lasted for about five hours.
The Taepodong-2 missile, which some analysts believed capable of hitting the western United States, failed after about 40 seconds, U.S. officials said.
The U.N. Security Council planned to meet Wednesday morning to discuss North Korea's actions.
North Korean Foreign Ministry officials confirmed the tests Wednesday to reporters for two Japanese broadcasters, NHK and TV Tokyo.
U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley described the missile launches as "provocative behavior," but said they posted no immediate threat to the United States.
Washington dispatched Christopher Hill, its top negotiator in the six-party talks with the two Koreas, Japan, China and Russia, to consult with U.S. allies in Asia after the tests, Hadley said.
Hill has been the top U.S. negotiator in the six-party talks aimed at convincing North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program.
A statement from the White House said the United States "strongly condemns" the launches and North Korea's "unwillingness to heed calls for restraint from the international community."
"We are consulting with international partners on next steps," the statement said.
"This provocative act violates a standing moratorium on missile tests to which the North had previously committed."
The United States and Japan had urged Pyongyang to stick with the moratorium on long-range missile tests it declared in 1999, after it fired a Taepodong-1 missile over Japan in 1998.
"We can now examine what the launches tell us about the intentions of North Korea," Hadley told reporters.
Washington and North Korea's Asian neighbors have been trying to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear program since 2002. Analysts called the tests an effort by North Korea to redirect attention to those talks.
"North Korea's point here is that they have capabilities, growing capabilities, and that they should be taken in a very serious way," said Wendy Sherman, a former State Department official who held talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il during the Clinton administration

Indigenous Wankel Rotary Engine Takes Flight in Nishant UAV

The first ever indigenous Wankel Rotary engine, powering Nishant, the Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV), took off from a World War II abandoned runway near a village eight kilometres from Kolar in Karnataka. The maiden flight of the indigenous Wankel engine of a UAV, which took off yesterday morning, climbed to an altitude of 1.8 km effortlessly before cruising for 35 minutes.The air vehicle was recovered safely at the intended place at a dried-up lake after a total flight duration of 40 minutes, a defence press release said here today. The event signifies achievements in many categories: It is the first time that a Wankel engine has been developed within the country and UAV flown with an indigenous engine.The engine, a Wankel Rotary type, was a developmental project, which originated at the DRDO through VRDE, Ahmednagar, and was jointly designed and developed by NAL, a CSIR laboratory, VRDE, Ahmednagar, and ADE, Bangalore, it said. The Wankel engine is the first of its kind that was totally designed and developed in the country. Very few countries in the world have the capability to develop and master this technology, the release said.This indigenous engine is expected to replace the present imported engine for Nishant.

SUPER PUMA (AS332 L2) HELICOPTER CRASH

At 1255 hrs UTC on Wednesday 1 April 2009 a brief Mayday call was
transmitted by the crew of a Super Puma (AS332 L2) helicopter when it was
approximately 11 nm NE of Peterhead, Scotland on a flight from BP's Miller
Oil Platform to Aberdeen. The helicopter, operated by Bond Offshore
Helicopters, carrying 2 crew and 14 passengers, was then seen to descend
rapidly and impact the surface of the sea. The weather conditions at the time
were benign. Search and rescue efforts to date have not recovered any
survivors.
The AAIB despatched a team of investigators and support staff, who arrived in
Aberdeen later on 1 April. In accordance with normal protocols, the AAIB
have invited representatives from the French accident investigation authority;
Eurocopter (the helicopter manufacturer), the European Aviation Safety
Agency and the UK Civil Aviation Authority to participate in the investigation.
Preparations are currently under way to locate and recover the combined
Voice and Flight Data Recorder and the wreckage which, after an initial
inspection, will be returned to the AAIB facilities at Farnborough for detailed
examination.

Full Scale Fatigue Testing of military aircrafts at NAL

Full Scale fatigue testing at NAL

After successful completion of the test programme of Gnat Fighter Aircraft using full scale fatigue test rig developed by NAL, the Structural integrity Group(SIG) has taken the major task of developing a computerised full scale fatigue test rig under the project of development of fatigue test facilities. This has felt necessary in view of the practical difficulties experienced during the use of the existing six actuator full scale fatigue test rig. Sufficient clear heights for rigging of loading trees was an important consideration in the design of the new test rig. The floor area of the test rig was arrived at by examining the plan form dimensions of number of fighter air-crafts in IAF. It was decided that the test rig should be designed as a "self reacting frame work in order to avoid heavy foundation work. Another requirement was that there should be enough free entry space so that air frames of most of the fighter aircrafts can be easily moved into the test rig. The facility has been conceived Initially as a 24 actuator system in which 16 actuators are assigned to the wings, 5 actuators to the fuselage and 3 actuators to the empennage. The system will be enlarged subsequently to include more number of actuators . The test rig itself has been designed for a maximum operational load of 50,000 lbs with the maximum structural deflection restricted to 20 mm at design load
The SIG has taken up several FSFT activities for life extension of fighter aircrafts .
The recent life extension studies was done for Mig-21 Bis aircraft for IAF and all the loads experienced by the aircraft in the sevice conditions are simulated on the ground to extend its life from 2400 hrs of flying which is the designed life of MIG 21and now IAF can heave a sigh of relief - the life of the MiG-21 Bis has been enhanced. The entire fleet of the MiG-21 Bis, tests by National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) have revealed, can now fly an additional 1,000 hours or effectively for another 10 years.
With the entire MiG-21 Bis fleet of 150 aircraft approaching its maximum life-span of 2,400 hours as per original certification by Russia, IAF went for the life-enhancement test at NAL.
It flew in a MiG-2The results come after NAL's successful completion of full-scale fatigue testing (FSFT) on the MiG-21 Bis airframe C-2090. With this a major IAF project on the total technical life enhancement (TTLE) of the MiG-21 Bis fleet has come to an end.
the aircraft had completed 2,400 hours and had no fatigue cracks. The question before IAF was - how much longer could the aircraft fly? IAF requisitioned NAL to extend MiG-21 Bis life from 2,400 hours to 4,000 hours - an additional 1,600 hours. The aircraft, however, experienced cracks and break-up after around 1,000 hours of flying.
"There was no question of further testing as the aircraft had reached its limits. But it became evident that its life could be enhanced by 1,000 flying hours," said NAL official Dr.P K Dash.
Dash further said: "What loads the aircraft experiences in flight in a whole year, we simulate on the ground in one day, checking for fatigue.
When fatigue shows up, you know that is the point up to which the aircraft can fly."The key issue in preserving structural integrity against fatigue failure, Dash said, was to get precise answers to where and when fatigue cracks would appeared in the airframe, which, if undetected in time could lead to catastrophic structural failure.

SARAS aircraft flight testing

Flight testing of SARAS aircraft in mid air

The flight-testing expertise and resources in India have matured adequately to undertake
prototype flight-testing. The Light Transport Aircraft (LTA) program, SARAS a turboprop
aircraft being developed indigenously by National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) of
Government of India, is the first civil aircraft program aimed at certification standard, FAR 25 . The program is unique in that the propeller configuration of SARAS is pusher type and it is
the first indigenously designed civil transport aircraft in India. In light of its unique configuration
and in absence of any precedence for certification of an indigenously designed and developed
aircraft against a FAR airworthiness standard in India, the prototype flight-testing of SARAS
aircraft becomes critical. The first flight of SARAS aircraft was flown on 29 May 2004 and the
prototype flight-testing is progressing satisfactorily.

The LTA being first aircraft being flight tested and aimed to be certified against FAR 25,
the certification agency in India was also in learning mode. The certification agency needed to
acquire adequate skills in inspection and approval leading to prototype aircraft flight-testing and
certification. The roles and responsibilities of various constituents of the flight test organization
were required to be defined. Besides, the prototype flightesting of the SARAS ac was entrusted
to Indian Air Force (IAF). Towards this, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between
IAF and the NAL.
The flight-testing and safety structure was evolved. The flight test instrumentation, which
includes an elaborate ground telemetry station that received and displayed 328 parameters of the aircraft in real time using Pulse Code Modulation technology, was established. Experiments were conducted to improve the telemetry reception that did not restrict the test flying area. The test monitoring and direction setup was evolved. A clear hierarchy of team of system specialists that monitored parameters in real time and directed flight test point also advised the flight test crew on board the prototype aircraft

NAL's SARAS aircraft project will not stop

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) would go ahead with its project to develop the 14-seater Saras aircraft despite the crash of the second prototype of the aircraft near Bangalore on Friday last.“We will continue with the project. We will not let the sacrifice made by the three crew members of the aircraft, who belonged to the Indian Air Force’s Airbone Systems Testing Institute, to go in vain,” said CSIR Director-General Samir K. Brahmachari.He told The Hindu that the first prototype of the aircraft would be modified and converted into prototype–3 and the scientists would carry forward the various tests required for certification by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation.Dr. Brahmachari, who visited Bangalore after the accident to take stock of the situation, said he had held discussions with the officers of the IAF and civil aviation authorities on the follow-up actions. The prototype-1 has completed around 160 test flights and the prototype-2 was on its 49th test flight when it crashed.A multi-role light transport aircraft, Saras is aimed at meeting the requirements of executive transport, air ambulance and other community services.It is designed to take off and land on short semi-prepared runways and fly up to a speed of 550 km per hour at a cruise altitude of 7.5 km.The accident came even as the Union Cabinet’s Committee on Economic Affairs recently revised the cost estimate of the CSIR’s scheme to design, develop and manufacture small civilian aircraft from Rs.96 crore to Rs.172 crore.

SARAS blackbox found and recovered at the crash site

Bangalore : A four-member DGCA team on Saturday visited the crash site, and reportedly recovered the black box from the aircraft, which could hold crucial data.After examining the aircraft, the officials took the black box for analysis. The team will visit the site again on Sunday and try to recover more equipment such as the voice recorder. Debris will also be cleared.According to defence officials, data were received at different centres of Saras PT2 just before it crashed.The telemetry at Aircraft Systems Testing Establishment of the IAF has reportedly received substantial data, but that has been sealed by the DGCA, which will follow its own procedure to decode the information.NAL wants the telemetry at its possession soon. The ATC at HAL too has received many data minutes before the crash, some of which indicated that pilots did not communicate after 3.40 pm.The DGCA has almost completed its preliminary inquiry based on which it will file a FIR