Wind Tunnel Testing Verification Method for Flight Test Pilots Emergency Departure from Commercial Aircraft

Abstract

According to airworthiness regulations, the first or previous several commercial aircraft for flight test must be installed with an air emergency departure system to ensure that the members of the pilots safely escape from the aircraft in the event of an irretrievable flight emergency. Large-scale commercial aircraft mostly adopt the lower-single-wing and wing-hanging-engine configuration. Emergency departure channel is generally designed on the side or bottom of the front fuselage, when pilots had to leave the aircraft, who may hit the aircraft components, such as landing gear, engines and wings. Therefore, it must be verified whether the test pilot can safely leave the aircraft from the emergency exit during the aircraft design process. This paper introduces the method about how to verify the safety of test pilots though wind tunnel testing. The key of method is to measure the trajectory of pilot in wind tunnel by simulating conditions of flight and pilot emergency departure. The method illustrated can be used for design and verification of emergency departure system.