New Techniques For Optimization And Certification Of Helicopters In Icing Conditions

The high priority requirement of the Royal Air Force (RAF) to provide the HC-Mk I Chinook with an all weather capability has led to the development of a heated rotor blade de-ice system, and an ambitious two-year development and certification test program. To achieve the goals of this requirement it was necessary to develop a system that combined flexible de-ice system control with real time data analysis techniques that provided a real time, on-board decision making capability in the icing environment. This paper will describe the test equipment and instrumentation used in the program and discuss the various types of real time analyses and test methods developed to achieve this goal.