TABLE OF CONTENTS Modern aircraft are complex integrated systems with the propulsion, avionics, and aerodynamics blended together to achieve optimum performance, stability, and control.
The flight testing of such aircraft is an endeavor that involves a number of engineering disciplines in addition to the study of the man-machine interface that we know as human factors. Engineering disciplines such as aeronautical, mechanical, electrical and structural all come together at this phase of an aircraft's development. In addition, it is at this time that the human crew, which has both tremendous capabilities and finite limitations, must begin to interact with the aircraft and its systems. That interaction must be examined from the standpoint of human workload, which has a component of human psychology and industrial engineering. In addition, the management of a flight test program for a modern aircraft requires management skills that are not often included in most engineering curriculums. As a result of this mix of disciplines, flight testing can not be claimed by any one and is therefore a discipline unto itself.
The flight test comes at the end of the aircraft design process and is a unique part of it, as one of the purposes of the flight test is to validate and refine the design. This means that changes to the design will continue to be made to the aircraft during the flight testing, as a result of the testing. Such changes to the design may affect the results of testing previously done, requiring it...
