POLIMI STUDENTS PERFORM AN EDUCATIONAL FLIGHT TEST CAMPAIGN WITH LEONARDO HELICOPTERS
25 May 2022 — 1 minutes read
On May 23-24, 2022, eight students of the Flight Testing graduate course were involved in an intense exercise at the Leonardo Helicopters premises in Cascina Costa, Italy. The exercise consisted in flight tests for Handling Qualities evaluation of the AW109 Grand New and AW189 helicopter models. Students acted as Flight Test Engineers responsible for each test mission, flying alongside a certified Test Pilot, while being monitored by a company Lead Flight Test Engineer.
A total of eight flight missions was deployed, dedicated to the investigation of controllability and static longitudinal stability. Test Pilots Antonio Baldussi and Andrea Scopa, together with Flight Test Engineers Andrea Castelli, Walter Moiola, Marco Montorfano and Elisabetta Borghi tutored the student teams, introducing them to the complexity and peculiar character of this fascinating and highly-specialized facet of aeronautical engineering.
The Flight Testing course is offered to 2nd year Aeronautical Engineering MSc students at Politecnico di Milano. During the course, each student is called to plan, perform, and analyze a real flight test mission. This year, real rotorcraft flight test missions were added to the curriculum for the second time, thanks to the willingness and enthusiasm of the Flight Operations and Flight Test Departments of Leonardo Helicopters.
Great job by the students and Leonardo Helicopter crews, who brought the planned flight test campaign to a successful completion.
A grateful thank goes to Leonardo Helicopters and the awesome staff involved for this unique opportunity!
