Helicopter Pilot Heaven
-French Test Pilot School
By SQNLDR Chris Andrew
‘So’, they said, ‘Do you want to come to the south of France and fly a variety of different helicopters?’ My first thought was, have they got the right man? And the second was, I’d better say yes before they change their minds...
In front of an AS365N Dauphin
With an air of disbelief at my good fortune, I turned up for my first day at École du Personnel Navigant d’Essais et de Réception (EPNER) – the French Test Pilot School. I was there to complete a 13 week Acceptance Test Flying Course, to prepare for my duties participating in the acceptance test flying and evaluation (AT&E) of New Zealand’s NH90 helicopters, commencing in early 2009.
My course has been tailored to specifically meet the needs of the New Zealand Defence Force and, unusually, was conducted in English rather than French. I was fortunate to receive personal instruction from two of EPNER’s senior and most experienced instructors – Mr Patrick Lanteri and Mr Jean-Pierre Thevenon. Patrick is currently conducting acceptance test flights for the French Tiger attack helicopter programme, and Jean-Pierre is a Flight Test Engineer, of vast experience, on a number of helicopter and airliner flight test programmes.
An average day involved a mix of theory and practical instruction. Theoretical subjects included helicopter performance, rotor dynamics, handling qualities and gas turbine engine theory. I had covered these subjects before, but never in such depth. The mathematical component kept me on my toes – I thought I had left second-order differential equations behind me a long time ago!
The practical instruction was also extremely interesting and challenging. It focused on being able to adapt to flying diverse, unfamiliar aircraft types, with a high degree of precision near the edge of their proven performance envelope. A typical flight involved a series of ‘stabilisations’, from the hover through to maximum speed (Vne), with power on and maximum speed in autorotation. All climbs used maximum continuous power and all autorotations were at maximum rotor speed. The trick was to manage the flight in such a way as to cautiously and methodically fly at, but not over, the limits. During each ‘stabilisation’ the onboard flight test instrumentation was available to record all the data and parameters of interest.
The school has a large range of both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters at its disposal. I flew the:
- AS365N Dauphin
- AS550U2 Fennec
- SA342 Gazelle
- AS555N Fennec
- AS532 Cougar
- EC725 Cougar
- Robinson R44
- EC135, and
- EC665 Tiger.
Having exposure to such a wide range of helicopter types will give me an excellent grounding to contribute to the NH90 Acceptance Testing in 2009. I am extremely grateful to the RNZAF for the opportunity this course has provided. Basically, it’s helicopter pilot heaven!