Flight Test and Evaluation of Fluidic Flight Control

This paper presents the results of a multi-year project by the Naval Air Development Center to design, fabricate, evaluate, and flight test a fluidic flight control system in a Navy T-2C, a twin-jet carrier aircraft. The work leading to this flight test began with component design to the aircraft installation constraints and to flight requirements, continued through fabrication, laboratory testing and system installation, and culminated with man-in-the-loop evaluation of the system installed in the aircraft, ground tests, and flight. The results of these tests demonstrate the successful integration of three advanced technologies:

• 8000-psi actuation

controlled both by

• fluidics and
• fly-by-wire

which the Naval Air Development Center has brought to fruition.