Preliminary Airworthiness Evaluation of the UH-1H with Hot Metal Plus Plume Infrared Suppressor and Infrared Jammer

The Preliminary Airworthiness Evaluation (PAE) of the UH-1H, with the Infrared (IR) Suppressor and AN/ALQ-144 IR Jammer installed, was conducted using a JUH-1H helicopter. A total of 20.7 hours were flown during this test program. This PAE was an evaluation of a redesigned IR suppressor and IR jamme...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Picasso, Bartholomew D , III, Ottomeyer, John D, Haworth, Loran A, Vincent, Richard
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
AERODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
AIRWORTHINESS
AN/ALQ-144
BOOMS(EQUIPMENT)
DEFICIENCIES
FLIGHT TESTING
Helicopters
INFRARED JAMMING
INFRARED SUPPRESSORS
LPN-DA-20-0-AS215-01-20-1K
LPN-USAAEFA-80-06
METAL CONTACTS
Optical Countermeasures
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
TAILS(AIRCRAFT)
TEST AND EVALUATION
UH-1H AIRCRAFT
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Summary:The Preliminary Airworthiness Evaluation (PAE) of the UH-1H, with the Infrared (IR) Suppressor and AN/ALQ-144 IR Jammer installed, was conducted using a JUH-1H helicopter. A total of 20.7 hours were flown during this test program. This PAE was an evaluation of a redesigned IR suppressor and IR jammer installation for the UH-1H helicopter. The initial design was reported to have caused a degradation in directional stability. The installation was redesigned to reduce the airflow disturbance over the tail rotor and vertical stabilizer. This evaluation was conducted in two phases. Phase I (9.5 flight hours) was a comparative evaluation of handling qualities of the UH-1H in both the standard and IR suppressor configurations. Phase II (11.2 flight hours) was primarily a pressure and temperature survey of the IR suppressor configuration. The handling qualities of the UH-1H helicopter were essentially unchanged by the IR suppressor and IR jammer installation tested. The previously reported degradation in directional stability was not observed during this test. The tail boom surface temperatures were generally higher for the initial design and the structural implications of these higher temperatures should be investigated. One deficiency, the metal to metal contact between the engine exhaust ejector and the IR suppressor inner core support struts, was identified. Three shortcomings were also identified.