Handley Page Named Lecture 2020 - Cranfield NFLC

The National Flying Laboratory Centre, Cranfield University In-Flight Measurement and Research

The National Flying Laboratory Centre (NFLC) at Cranfield University operates three aircraft for research and teaching. The aircraft range from a 7000kg Jetstream 31 turboprop with 19 seats, to two tandem-seat 1000kg aerobatic piston engine aircraft. A Saab340B will replace the Jetstream in 2021. NFLC flies over 1500 aerospace engineering students per year from 20 plus U.K. universities, to provide experiential learning of flying and flight test of aircraft. NFLC also is active in research areas with other academic partners and industry.

This presentation will describe the history of the NFLC, from it origins in the Cranfield College of Aeronautics, up to the present day, including the current NFLC aircraft, their teaching role and their application in a research environment. This recent research work ranges from the development of fibre optic pressure and strain sensors in-flight, human factor disorientation studies, to the study and validation of an unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. Future plans for the laboratory and the challenges of in-flight measurement will also be discussed, including the benefit of combining in-flight testing with CFD models.