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Experimental planes and Their Uses

LifeAir offers a wide variety of aircraft, configurated for experimentation, on board which any client can test the new technologies, systems and products they are developing. All of the company’s planes have already gone through airworthiness licensing and certification procedures after being modified to carry heavier loads, had a hatch installed in their underbelly for different uses, or have gone through other modifications. This makes them ready and available for testing at short notices. LifeAir’s pilots are highly experienced in professionally carrying out experimental flights. Many in the public are unaware of the uses of such flights. Here is some information on the subject.

Experimental planes help develop new technologies

An experimental airplane is any plane used to test systems, their configurations, or products under development. On these planes, experiments are conducted to examine the behaviors and capabilities of new equipment, prototypes and materials.  

Often, these tests require experimental flights companies to make modifications in their aircraft. The planes are redesigned to be able to carry higher weights, to clear room for systems and their operators, to be able to take photographs or measurements out of a hatch in the plane or to be able to provide more amps through their electricity systems.

Following these modifications, the planes go through another (after already being cleared to fly in their original formation) airworthiness licensing and certification procedure to prove they are safe to fly.

Recent Uses of Experimental Aircraft

Aerial testing is done all the time, so finding current examples for its uses is quite easy. One such example is the latest system built by the Raytheon company for the US Navy. Raytheon was hired by the navy to provide an electronic attack system – the Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band, or NGJ-MB, for short. The navy needed a system that would fight against communication disruptions that may be used by enemy forces to interrupt the operation of defense systems and communication with drones and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles).

Raytheon designed the system seemingly successfully. However, it could not pronounce the system ready for use until it tested it upon an experimental airplane to make sure it works as it should. The system was installed upon a plane configured and modified to test airborne systems. During the test flight, the system’s engineering and operating teams examined how well it was performing. The system was found to have performed very well, and was delivered to the US navy in July 2019. 

Another example is the recent testing of a new satellite navigation system in India. The system was tested many times on the ground, but not until an experimental flight was used could it be declared ready for use.

One of the most interesting cases of experimental flights recently done was for the European Geosciences Union. Experts of the University of Michigan have designed an atmospheric measurement system that can monitor the amounts of N2O, CO2, CO, and H2O in the air. The system, Frequent Calibration High-performance Airborne Observation System (or FCHAOS), had to be taken up in the air aboard an experimental plane to test its accuracy. It was operated aerially to calibrate it, and the data it produced was checked against the results of already-proven measurement systems. The results of the test allowed the system’s designers to announce it as accurate in monitoring the amounts of the elements in the air. 

Without experimental flights, many of the recent technological developments we see around us and enjoy so much would not have been possible. Experimental aircraft are an important part in technological advancement and help improve human life all over the planet.

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