The Maritime
Augmented Guidance with Integrated Controls for Carrier Approach and
Recovery Precision Enabling Technologies, or MAGIC CARPET, is designed
to make landing on an aircraft carrier easier by incorporating direct
lift control, an augmented pilot control mode that maintains a commanded
glideslope, and improvements to heads-up display symbology tailored
for the shipboard landing task.
Navy test pilot Lt. Brent Robinson hit the two wire as planned when
he landed “Salty Dog 100,” an F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned
to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23.
“This was a huge technology milestone in the history of carrier
landings,” said Robinson, MAGIC CARPET project officer. “What
we saw at sea was essentially the same as the land-based testing we
did at [Naval Air Station Patuxent River]. We are still analyzing the
data, but from the [landing signal officer’s] position, the landings
looked very good.”
NAWCAD engineers and VX-23 test pilots specifically used the two wire
for testing because unlike most Nimitz-class carriers, CVN 77 has 3
arresting gear wires and aiming for the number 2 wire is standard operating
procedure.
The flight test team, which included engineers from NAWCAD, the Atlantic
Test Ranges, and industry partner Boeing, executed more than 180 touch-and-go
landings with 16 arrested landings in the advanced control modes during
three days of testing. The two F/A-18F test aircraft were flown in both
nominal and off-nominal approaches and in varying wind conditions.
The engineering group responsible for developing the flight control
software, new heads-up displays, and simulators was encouraged by the
sea trials.
“This initial sea trial confirmed that carrier landings can be
achieved at lower pilot workload while maintaining or reducing current
touchdown dispersions performance,” said James “Buddy”
Denham, a senior engineer in the aeromechanics division at NAVAIR. ”The
results from this test clearly show the benefits we expected to achieve
with this level of flight control augmentation. The data we have now
collected in both the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the F-35C Lightning
II in the Delta Flight Path mode show that the Navy’s fleet of
tactical aircraft, to include the EA-18G Growler, is well on its way
with a safer, more predictable method of accomplishing the unique naval
aviation task of shipboard landings.”
According to Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Radocaj, carrier suitability testing department
head at VX-23, MAGIC CARPET reduces touchdown dispersion, which refers
to the repeatability of aircrafts' tailhooks to land in approximately
the same spot on the carrier deck, and improves the overall success
rate for carrier landings.
As an added benefit, MAGIC CARPET can help to minimize hard landings,
reduce the number of required post-hard landing aircraft inspections,
and improve overall aircraft availability. The results from this initial
round of testing give good confidence that MAGIC CARPET can provide
substantial benefits to reduce initial and currency training for pilots
and lower the costs of Naval Aviation, said Radocaj.
Test pilots, engineers, and landing signal officers (LSO) from VX-23
will continue to test MAGIC CARPET demonstration software on F/A-18E/F
aircraft for the remainder of 2015 and early 2016. Production-level
software for the Fleet is scheduled to start flight testing in 2017,
with general fleet introduction to follow via the F/A-18 and EA-18G
program office. |
