371 

Federal Aviation Administration, DOT 

Pt. 60, App. C 

8. A

DDITIONAL

I

NFORMATION

A

BOUT

F

LIGHT

 

S

IMULATOR

Q

UALIFICATION FOR

N

EW OR

D

E

-

RIVATIVE

H

ELICOPTERS

 

a. Typically, a helicopter manufacturer’s 

approved final data for performance, han-
dling qualities, systems or avionics is not 
available until well after a new or derivative 
helicopter has entered service. However, 
flight crew training and certification often 
begins several months prior to the entry of 
the first helicopter into service. Con-
sequently, it may be necessary to use pre-
liminary data provided by the helicopter 
manufacturer for interim qualification of 
flight simulators. 

b. In these cases, the NSPM may accept 

certain partially validated preliminary heli-
copter and systems data, and early release 
(‘‘red label’’) avionics data in order to permit 
the necessary program schedule for training, 
certification, and service introduction. 

c. Simulator sponsors seeking qualifica-

tion based on preliminary data should con-
sult the NSPM to make special arrange-
ments for using preliminary data for flight 
simulator qualification. The sponsor should 
also consult the helicopter and flight simu-
lator manufacturers to develop a data plan 
and flight simulator qualification plan. 

d. The procedure to be followed to gain 

NSPM acceptance of preliminary data will 
vary from case to case and between heli-
copter manufacturers. Each helicopter man-
ufacturer’s new helicopter development and 
test program is designed to suit the needs of 
the particular project and may not contain 
the same events or sequence of events as an-
other manufacturer’s program or even the 
same manufacturer’s program for a different 
helicopter. Therefore, there cannot be a pre-
scribed invariable procedure for acceptance 
of preliminary data; instead there should be 
a statement describing the final sequence of 
events, data sources, and validation proce-
dures agreed by the simulator sponsor, the 
helicopter manufacturer, the flight simu-
lator manufacturer, and the NSPM. 

N

OTE

: A description of helicopter manufac-

turer-provided data needed for flight simu-
lator modeling and validation is to be found 
in the ‘‘Royal Aeronautical Society Data 
Package Requirements for Design and Per-
formance Evaluation of Rotary Wing Syn-
thetic Training Devices.’’ 

e. The preliminary data should be the man-

ufacturer’s best representation of the heli-
copter, with assurance that the final data 
will not deviate significantly from the pre-
liminary estimates. Data derived from these 
predictive or preliminary techniques should 
be validated by available sources including, 
at least, the following: 

(1) Manufacturer’s engineering report. The 

report should explain the predictive method 
used and illustrate past success of the meth-
od on similar projects. For example, the 

manufacturer could show the application of 
the method to an earlier helicopter model or 
predict the characteristics of an earlier 
model and compare the results to final data 
for that model. 

(2) Early flight test results. This data is 

often derived from helicopter certification 
tests and should be used to maximum advan-
tage for early flight simulator validation. 
Certain critical tests that would normally be 
done early in the helicopter certification 
program should be included to validate es-
sential pilot training and certification ma-
neuvers. These tests include cases where a 
pilot is expected to cope with a helicopter 
failure mode or an engine failure. The early 
data available will depend on the helicopter 
manufacturer’s flight test program design 
and may not be the same in each case. The 
flight test program of the helicopter manu-
facturer should include provisions for gen-
eration of very early flight tests results for 
flight simulator validation. 

f. The use of preliminary data is not indefi-

nite. The helicopter manufacturer’s final 
data should be available within 12 months 
after the helicopter first entry into service 
or as agreed by the NSPM, the simulator 
sponsor, and the helicopter manufacturer. 
When applying for interim qualification 
using preliminary data, the simulator spon-
sor and the NSPM should agree on the up-
date program. This includes specifying that 
the final data update will be installed in the 
flight simulator within a period of 12 months 
following the final data release, unless spe-
cial conditions exist and a different schedule 
is acceptable. The flight simulator perform-
ance and handling validation would then be 
based on data derived from flight tests. Ini-
tial helicopter systems data should be up-
dated after engineering tests. Final heli-
copter systems data should also be used for 
flight simulator programming and valida-
tion. 

g. Flight simulator avionics should stay 

essentially in step with helicopter avionics 
(hardware and software) updates. The per-
mitted time lapse between helicopter and 
flight simulator updates should be minimal. 
It may depend on the magnitude of the up-
date and whether the QTG and pilot training 
and certification are affected. Differences in 
helicopter and flight simulator avionics 
versions and the resulting effects on flight 
simulator qualification should be agreed be-
tween the simulator sponsor and the NSPM. 
Consultation with the flight simulator man-
ufacturer is desirable throughout the quali-
fication process. 

h. The following describes an example of 

the design data and sources that might be 
used in the development of an interim quali-
fication plan. 

(1) The plan should consist of the develop-

ment of a QTG based upon a mix of flight 
test and engineering simulation data. For 

VerDate Sep<11>2014 

16:30 Jun 25, 2019

Jkt 247047

PO 00000

Frm 00381

Fmt 8010

Sfmt 8002

Q:\14\14V2.TXT

PC31

kpayne on VMOFRWIN702 with $$_JOB