Actually it measures the wake turbulence behind the tail of the aircraft
Yeah, I read an article how some folk are protesting the expansion of the Airbus facility in Hamburg because they're scared the wake turbulence caused by the A380 will demolish a church which is nearby. Also of blowing tiles off the roofs of houses.
AeroWeanie From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 1601 posts, RR: 52 Reply 8, posted (8 years 2 weeks 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 2686 times:
Quoting Scotron11 (Reply 4): Actually it measures the wake turbulence behind the tail of the aircraft
Guess again. Its a trailing cone, which provides an accurate static pressure for reducing the flight test data.
CURLYHEADBOY From Italy, joined Feb 2005, 921 posts, RR: 2 Reply 12, posted (8 years 2 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 2577 times:
Does this mean that the boom protruding from the A380 tail will go away when flight testing is complete? Hope so, since it's a small feature i don't like too much...
If God had wanted men to fly he would have given them more money...
Jamesbuk From United Kingdom, joined May 2005, 3968 posts, RR: 5 Reply 13, posted (8 years 2 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 2433 times:
maybe its if the a380 runs out of fuel theyll refuel it with the boom lol by the way i was joking does it have to be a certain distance back from the tail
You cant have your cake and eat it... What the hells the point in having it then!!!
AeroWeanie From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 1601 posts, RR: 52 Reply 14, posted (8 years 2 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 2349 times:
Its not really a boom - its a piece of tubing with a cone on the end. On the ground, they hang downwards. It will be removed after flight testing is complete.
CitationJet From United States of America, joined Mar 2003, 2235 posts, RR: 3 Reply 17, posted (8 years 2 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 2254 times:
Quoting AeroWeanie (Reply 8): Guess again. Its a trailing cone, which provides an accurate static pressure for reducing the flight test data.
AeroWeanie has the correct answer above...
Quoting Andz (Reply 15): I wonder why it wasn't there for the first flight....
They weren't taking flight test data on the first flight that would require accurate static pressures. Also, the chase plane would provide a cross check of airspeed data.
At Cessna, we never use a trailing cones on prototype first flights.
OldAeroGuy From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 3206 posts, RR: 66 Reply 19, posted (8 years 2 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 2114 times:
It's a trailing cone for measuring static pressure remotely from the influence of the airplane. This is necessary to calibrate the airspeed system and the altimeters.
This is more involved than it looks. The cone is to stabilize 150' to 200' of cable and hose that is reeled out when the airplane is on test condition. A length of pipe with flush pressure ports in its sides is spliced into the hose ahead of the cone. Static pressure as detected at the ports is measured by instrumentation within the airplane.
Trailing cones are one of the real pains of flight testing as they frequently break off especially if the airplane is doing stalls or windup turns. When they depart the airplane, you go home because your test day is done.
Airplane design is easy, the difficulty is getting them to fly - Barnes Wallis