For release June 16, 2004
UTSI, NASA TACKLING ICING PROBLEM A team of flight research professionals has been grooming one of the University of Tennessee Space Institute’s airplanes to perform like NASA’s icing research planes. It is part of Prof. Richard J. Ranaudo’s preparation for a three-day short course in September on “In-flight Icing and Its Effects on Aircraft Handling Characteristics.”
Dr. Eugene Morelli, from NASA’s Flight Dynamics and Control Branch, Langley, Va., has provided technical assistance with a system identification program he developed that will be used to configure the Navion’s variable stability fly-by-wire flight control system. With the proper configuration settings, UTSI’s Navion will fly like the aircraft NASA uses to investigate the effects of airframe icing on aircraft flight characteristics.
An expert in system identification methodologies, Morelli is co-author of a book soon to be released providing a comprehensive treatise on system identification technology for aircraft, and other areas of flight research.
“This is a project I suggested to Dr. (Ralph D.) Kimberlin to provide a short course for operational pilots, test pilots, and flight test engineers,” said Ranaudo, research assistant professor in UTSI’s Aviation Systems program headed by Kimberlin. “The training will show them how aircraft handling characteristics are degraded by ice formations on aircraft.
“During the short course this fall, we will take students up in the Navion and simulate NASA’s icing research plane. We will also have several guest lecturers – experts in meteorology, aerodynamics, and aircraft icing research to teach the ground school portion.”
Kimberlin and Dr. Peter Solies, associate professor, have provided additional technical information during the two-week project at UTSI’s Flight Research Center at the Tullahoma airport. Both will lecture during the short course, slated for Sept. 14-16.
Also involved has been Dr. Catherine Cavagnaro, chairman of the Math and Computer Science Departments at the University of the South, Sewanee. She is involved with application of system identification methodologies and MATLAB and with developing a desktop simulation of the variable stability aircraft.
“Dr. Cavagnaro also is an accomplished pilot and flight crew member on the Navion during our research flights,” Ranaudo noted.
Michael G. Leigh of Tullahoma, a research specialist, was responsible for configuring the Navion instrumentation and data acquisition system, and Gregory E. Heatherly, Estill Springs, chief aircraft mechanic, is responsible for daily preparation and air worthiness of the aircraft. Both are assigned to UTSI’s Flight Research Center.
“We have been characterizing the handling of the Navion using its variable stability system so we understand how to make it handle like NASA’s icing aircraft when its wings and tail surfaces are iced up,” Ranaudo said.
In the 1980’s, UTSI obtained two of the Variable Stability Navions, developed by Princeton University, and restored them to first-class flying condition. The exercise has prompted a feeling of “déjà vu” for Morelli. “I first saw the Navions when I was working on a master’s degree at Princeton University during the 1980s,” Morelli explained. “I didn’t think then that they would ever fly again. I am impressed with their current capabilities.”
It is a similar experience for Ranaudo, as he was the NASA test pilot who did the testing on the icing research airplane, whose flight characteristics he will simulate with UTSI’s Navion.
D Never mind that your tax dollars helped support this - sorry, couldn't resist
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