Flight tests for aircraft safety and airworthiness certification

The activity consists in setting up some appropriate flight testing techniques and procedures for aircraft safety and airworthiness certification. The activity was focuses in particular on ultralight and general aviation aircraft and is based on the experimental validation of flying qualities estimates and on the analysis of aircraft safety through flight performances measurements. This research will result in a selection of technologies and methods to set up a standardized procedure for flight data acquisition and analysis. An accurate measure of flight parameters is particularly important for the assessment of flight qualities and safety of light airplanes. This research group devotes part of its activities to the revision and modification of certification standards of light airplanes as a form of guidance for the Italian legislator. An exaple is the definition of a new class of aircraft called V.EL (Velivoli Elementari, Elementary Airplanes). The unit’s experimental activities related to flight tests are the most prominent and represent at the same time the basic part and the final part of the assessment of an airplane’s flight qualities and airworthiness. The group is partially endowed with the equipment and set of sensors necessary to this research and generally performs flight test campaigns for the certification of ultralight and general aviation aircraft.