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Flight test safety — The U.S. navy approach

The challenges of Flight Test require a rigorous and methodical approach to safety. Like any aviation endeavor the human and financial cost of a mishap drives a need for exceptional rigor in the safety program. The uniqueness of flight test adds the additional element of unfamiliarity with the vehicle's characteristics. Developing an understanding of these characteristics is the purpose of flight test. Likewise, the purpose of flight test safety is to reveal vehicle characteristics in a controlled manner so that discovery of aircraft shortcomings does not lead to catastrophe. The principal element in maintaining flight test safety is a good test plan. Guidance for test planning for the U.S. Navy is specified in the Naval Air Systems Command test plan policy and the corresponding test planning handbook. The test plan policy provides a process that includes risk identification and management and ultimately the determination of the overall risk level associated with the test. Oversight of flight test planning, including safety and risk management is provided by the Test and Experimentation Coordination Team (TECT). The TECT is a two person team that is responsible for the approval of all test plans and formally accepts the risk associated with the test. The two person team consists of the Chief Test Pilot (CTP) and the Chief Test Engineer (CTE). The CTP provides military aviation, mission experience, and the test pilot perspective while the CTE provides an engineering perspective combined with significant experience in flight test. With approval of the test plan, the TECT has deemed that the risks, as mitigated in the test plan, are outweighed by the gains in knowledge of the system under test. This paper details how the test plan addresses safety and is used to manage the associated risks involved with flight test.