Eurofighter completes carefree handling trials

The Eurofighter Typhoon Single Seat Development Aircraft (DA2), based at BAE SYSTEMS Warton has completed a series of high-risk, asymmetric carefree handling flight trials.

The carefree trials are designed to evaluate the Flight Control System (FCS) on the aircraft. Carefree means that the pilot can perform whatever action he wants with the stick, pedals and throttle and the aircraft's flight control system will protect the pilot and the aircraft by limiting parameters such as angle of attack, g-force and roll-rate, to a safe level.

To test the FCS to the full, the aircraft was fitted with the most demanding weapon configuration. For these trials, which were to clear the Eurofighter Typhoon for Initial Operational Clearance, this consisted of two Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles on the right-hand under fuselage stations and a short-range Sidewinder missile on the right-hand wing tip. Other configurations will be tested in the future as the aircraft proceeds through to full operational clearance.

DA2 is the only Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft across the four-partner nations that can undertake these Carefree Handling Trials. This is because the aircraft can be fitted with an anti-spin gantry and an emergency power unit. These safety measures are fitted to protect the pilot and the aircraft should the FCS not react in the way that the results gained from rigorous testing on simulators and test rigs had predicted.

Craig Penrice, Eurofighter Typhoon Project Pilot, who has been at the controls of DA2 during these trials said: "Flying the carefree handling trials is probably as exciting as test flying gets, because you are pushing the aircraft and its software to its limits.

"So far the flight control systems have performed entirely as predicted following the substantial testing undertaken in the wind tunnel and flight simulation. This marvellous achievement is credit to everyone involved."

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