Public Affairs, Volume 63, Number 49
Serving the community of Edwards Air Force Base California www.edwards.af.mil - www.facebook.com/EdwardsAirForceBase
June 24, 2016
Engineers, technicians support KC-46 tests here By Christopher Ball 412th Test Wing Public Affairs
Joe Beachboard, a model maker with the 412th Maintenance Squadron Instrumentation Division, creates a portion of the flight test engeneer workstation for the KC-46 Pegasus. (U.S. Air Force photo by Christopher Ball)
Refueling qualification tests with the Boeing 767-2C (EMD-1), also known as the KC-46 Pegasus, are going on over 1,000 miles away in the Pacific Northwest, with Edwards Air Force Base supporting with chase aircraft. Meanwhile, team Edwards has been working feverishly here to provide testing support on the ground and the air. One aspect is the engineering and development of modifications to Edwards Aircraft to support tanker testing and qualification. During this phase, the Air Refueling Certification (ARC), Team Edwards’ job is to certify aircraft to fly and receive fuel from the KC-46, according to Rosie Feord, 412th Test Engineering Division modification manager for the KC-46 program. A number of aircraft here have been modified with fuel pressure sensors and a
recording device called a BOD-10 (Battery Operated Data acquisition system) to record fuel flow and pressure during refueling operations. The data from these aircraft will support Air Refueling Certification (ARC), the ability of KC-10 to deliver fuel to a variety of aircraft, and also to receive fuel from other tankers. To accomplish this a number of aircraft, more than 13 different types, will be fitted with the BOD-10 modification, including F-15s and A-10s at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The battery-powered unit was chosen because installation is easier and less expensive. The alternative would be building an installing a unit that ran off the aircraft internal power. “We would have to tap into the aircraft
See Tanker, Page 3
Innovative team creates mobile, reconfigurable cockpit By Kenji Thuloweit 412th Test Wing Public Affairs There’s an old saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” In flight test, needs are everywhere; parts, scheduling, the need for maintainers, for computers, the need for spectrum to transmit data, etc. The 412th Test Wing is also voicing the need for innovation to improve the way things are done, not only now but for the future. At the 772nd Test Squadron a need was identified, and through some ingenuity and resourcefulness, the Portable Manned Interactive Cockpit was conceived. The PMIC was designed and is being built by a team at the 772nd TS’s Integrated Facility for Avionics Systems Test. “We’re all software developers and we wanted a cockpit that we could use for development that wasn’t being used by the [combined test force],” said Orion Westfall, 772nd TS. “We wanted an F-35 cockpit, something small we can do development on.” Westfall said getting time with the actual state-of-the-art simulators at the IFAST to do software development can be difficult given how often they’re used. “We have big full dome simulators, but those rooms are used all the time and we cannot get in there and do any work while a mission is going. We’ll schedule the rooms to do work, and if the CTF decides they want to fly a mission that day, then we have to reschedule. It’s kind of important for them to fly, and we we’re getting rescheduled a lot.” The team pieced together a cockpit with a stick and throttle, and then
See innovation, Page 3
The Portable Manned Interactive Cockpit being built by members of the 772nd Test Squadron should be completed next month. The innovation team from the 772nd TS are (back left to right) Curtis Westfall, Victor Cruz, Gary Johnson, Kevin Dolber and Orion Westfall (seated). (U.S. Air Force photo by Kenji Thuloweit)
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