Feature 4 | AIRCRAFT CARRIERS


mechanical pipe systems, ventilation, and fittings and equipment installed. Babcock’s Project Director, Sean


Donaldson, said: “After meticulous planning, seeing the first


lift and the


assembly of the first carrier actually beginning is very exciting – a key milestone and a major achievement in itself. “Having the facility and infrastructure


ready and able to support the assembly and integration process is also the result of a massive programme of work in itself that has taken over three years, including the work to the docks and main entrance and the installation of the crane, but also many more less visible elements. We’re now focusing the team on delivering Assembly Cycle A successfully and on-schedule,


in line with the programme plan set two years ago.” The 65,000tonne QE class aircraft


carriers, at some 280m long, with a breadth of 74m, will be the UK’s largest and most powerful warships,


each


providing the armed forces with a four acre military operating base which can be deployed worldwide. WT


Flight control software to help landings on carrier decks


Early in 2012, select pilots will begin testing new flight control soſtware, funded in part by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), which is intended to facilitate aircraſt landings on US Navy carriers with an unprecedented level of accuracy.


“ T


he precision that we can bring to carrier landings in the future will be substantial,” said Michael


Deitchman, Deputy Chief of Naval Research for naval air warfare and weapons. “The flight control algorithm has the potential to alter the next 50 years of how pilots land on carrier decks.” Today, US Navy and Marine Corps


aviators conducting carrier landings line up with a moving flight deck in a complicated process. They must constantly adjust their speed and manipulate the aircraft’s flight control surfaces – ailerons, rudders and elevators – to maintain the proper glide path and alignment to the flight deck for an arrested landing. Throughout their approach, pilots eye a set of lights – known as the fresnel lens – located on the left side of the ship. It signals whether they are coming in too high or too low. The new algorithm embedded in the


flight control software augments the landing approach. Coupled with an experimental shipboard light system called a Bedford Array and accompanying cockpit heads-up display symbols, the software ties the movement of the pilot’s control stick directly to the aircraft’s flight path. Instead of constantly adjusting the aircraft’s trajectory indirectly through attitude changes, the pilot manoeuvres the


22


Software being developed in the US could change the way aircraft land on the deck of an aircraft carrier.


aircraft to project a dotted green line in his head-up display over a target light shining in the landing area. “It is almost like a video game,” said


James Denham, the senior engineer who has been leading the research and development efforts at Naval Air Systems Command. “You’re tracking a shipboard stabilised visual target with a flight path reference, and the airplane knows what it needs to do to stay there.” The software has been incorporated


into an F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet flight simulator. Researchers plan to conduct a study with US Navy pilots and UK Royal Navy pilots who will fly the simulator to obtain data on workload reduction


and touchdown performance. Once the results are tabulated, the engineers plan to integrate the refined algorithm onto an actual aircraft for flight tests and demonstrations. If the tests are successful, the software


could be integrated aboard current and future aircraft and change the way carrier- based aviators have landed aboard ship for more than half a century – essentially controlled crash landings. Increasing the precision of landings will enhance safety and reduce training requirements necessary to perfect carrier-landing skills. It could also lower aircraft life-cycle costs by reducing maintenance and avoiding repairs caused by hard landings. WT


Warship Technology January 2012


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