Development of an Automated Helicopter Stability & Control Flight Testing Data Collection and Analysis Software System

This article presents the software system developed to collect, present and analyze helicopter stability and control flight test data near real time in-flight. The software system was designed to be relatively simple to operate. The functionality of the program was presented in detail with example screenshots of each window in the entire program. The procedures for use of the program are presented in a step-by-step fashion that could serve as the basis for a user’s manual. The data presentation and analysis techniques were discussed from both the user interface and the internal program functionality perspectives. The mathematics used in the computation of the engineering parameters was described in detail. The flight test techniques and pilot procedures as well as the background theory that were used to determine the appropriate flight test techniques are also presented.