The design report

Flight Test 6.2
The flight test aimed to examine the ability of the EPUAV to perform maneuvers such as
takeoff and landing, as well as its ability to undertake certain mid air operations. For a
successful flight test, all control surfaces must be in excellent working form, as they are
all necessary to maintain control of the vehicle during the mission. The mission profile
in this case was of relative simplicity, the aircraft needed to be able to take off, fly for at
least 11 minutes, while performing some basic flight maneuvers and then safely land.
The flight tests were conducted on Wednesday the sixth of January, 2009, at a site
approximately 30 minutes from NUAA which had an adequate runway for the task. On
this day, three flights were undertaken by the EPUAV iSpy.
Flight test 1 6.2.1
The first flight test was performed with the plane carrying no payload, although the
small spy camera was taped to the underside of the wing to document the crafts
performance. The Centre of gravity for the aircraft with no payload had been calculated
to be at 32% of the chord, this position was marked on the wing to in order for the pilot
to have a choice of CG position.
The first flight test began on a worrying note. As the plane built up speed down the
runway, it appeared that the landing gear issues had resurfaced. As the plane reached
high speeds on the rough surface, it was obvious that the wheels were shaking and
moving around a lot, indicating that the large forces exerted on them from the
roughness of the ground were having a highly negative impact on the landing gear. The
aircraft resumed its previous inclination to veer to the right. At higher speeds, the
veering was even more severe, and the pilot was forced to steer the plane left in order
for it to remain on the runway. Thus, the aircraft had to be corrected on takeoff by
ailerons being deflected at takeoff
However, once the plane was airborne, the problems with the landing gear became
obsolete. iSpy performed marvelously in flight, proving that it was able to successfully
turn, climb and dive. In fact, the pilot commented that the in-flight controls were
excellent, and that the aircraft could easily dive and regain height, although he too
acknowledged that the landing gear was problematic.
The landing was excellent and problem free. The aircraft descended gracefully to touch
down gently without an issue, and was quick to stop once hitting the tarmac, meaning
that the faulty landing gear had little effect.
Once upon the ground, the team examined the landing gear and found that the previous
problems had indeed resurfaced, and were again causing the aircraft to veer right. It
was agreed that this problem could not be solved on site; however the team concluded
that the pilot was clearly incredibly skilled, and able to successfully take off even with
problematic landing gear, and therefore the landing gear would not impinge upon the
actual flight to a great extent.