FAN JET FALCON DESIGN AND CERTIFICATION TESTS

With respect to the policy of structural tests on the Fan Jet Falcon, the main rules which have been followed are: First, carry out as early as possible many component design tests (fatigue and static) until failure occurs. Tests on complete aircraft should commence with heaviest loads. Conduct as many of these tests as possible up to failure. The actual structural margins can thus be known fairly accurately and the development potential of the airplane evaluated. Also, it provides data for fatigue calculations. Regarding the fail-safe concept, the design of a structure must be thought of in terms of safety. A clearly understood ‘fail-safe’ may prove better with respect to large-item component structures than for conventional thin-skin assembly structures. The question to be answered is: ‘By what means can I reliably detect an incipient structural crack before it develops to a catastrophic failure?’ This may lead us along different paths—systematic inspections, crack propagation, and sometimes to a classic static test with a completely failed item.