Flight Test Instrumentation

Flight Test Instrumentation is a collection of papers presented at the Third International Symposium on Flight Test Instrumentation held in 1964 under the auspices of the Department of Flight of the College of Aeronautics in Cranfield, UK. The symposium provided a forum for discussing advances in flight test instrumentation and covered topics ranging from pre-detection recording in the megacycle range to some problems and uses of fuel flow measurements in supersonic aircraft. This volume is comprised of 14 chapters and begins by describing angle of attack and angle of sideslip measurements using fully de-iced non-movable differential pressure-sensing heads and low-range capacitive pressure transducers. The next chapter explores errors in stability derivative measurements that can occur due to shortcomings in instrumentation design, as well as the implications of such errors for the development of a modern supersonic aeroplane. The application of the vector plotting technique to flight flutter testing of the Hawker Siddeley Trident is then considered. Subsequent chapters focus on the use of high-accuracy instrumentation techniques for non-steady flight measurements; strain gauging for transient heating cases; and free-flight model techniques for aerodynamic research at supersonic and hypersonic speeds. This book will be a useful resource for students, practitioners, and officials of aeronautics.