Supports The Aerospace Industry By Combining Research
Experience, Certification Testing
The National Research Council Canada Institute for Aerospace
Research has launched its developmental and certification flight
testing program, designed to be responsive to the flight test needs
of smaller Canadian and international aerospace companies. NRC
Aerospace calls this move a natural progression for its Flight
Research Laboratory, which conducts research along the continuum
from basic research to product development and certification for
market.
A key feature of these services is the designation of the NRC
chief test pilot, Rob Erdos, as a Transport Canada Design Approval
Representative (DAR). This allows him to act as the organization's
surrogate in examining the airworthiness of fixed-wing and
rotary-wing aircraft designs, and to determine their compliance
with air regulations. As part of the delegation, he is empowered to
assess the level of pilot skill required to operate an aircraft,
the ease of operation of the aircraft, and the crew workload, among
other parameters. Other parts of the lab, including their
instrumentation, structural analysis capabilities and flight test
expertise, make the organization a credible partner when working to
meet the requirements of a regulator.
This emerging NRC Aerospace capability has been more than 10
years in the making, beginning with the flight testing of the
Ultravia Pelican in 1999, when the Canadian kit plane manufacturer
sought to certify the two-place single-engine high-wing trainer.
Since then, NRC Aerospace has assisted high-technology defense
company Davis Engineering with certification testing of an infrared
engine exhaust signature suppression system, as well as general
aviation company Diamond Aircraft with the developmental testing of
the D-Jet, spin testing of the DA-40F, and demonstration of their
DA-20 design to the US Air Force for use as a trainer. Currently,
NRC Aerospace is assisting Seawind with the certification testing
of the Seawind 300C.
NRC Chief Test Pilot Rob Erdos
"We developed this capability because we wanted to support
the needs of smaller Canadian and international aerospace
companies, which may not be large enough to have test pilots and
the associated support people on staff," said Stewart Baillie,
director of the NRC Aerospace Flight Research Laboratory. "We find
this is a good use of our experience as a research organization,
because of the inherent links between basic aeronautical research
and the requirements of flight certification testing."
The NRC Aerospace Flight Research Laboratory maintains and
operates a small fleet of dedicated research aircraft, including a
Falcon 20, a Convair 580, a Harvard Mark IV, a T-33, a Twin Otter,
a Bell 412, a Bell 205A, a Bell 206 and an Extra 300. Researchers
use these aircraft to support projects in the lab's main program
areas: flight mechanics, avionics, aircraft recorder technology and
airborne research.