Aircraft and engine manufacturers travel the world seeking exactly the conditions they need for essential weather and environmental testing, as Paul E Eden reports
Predicting and assessing how an aircraft reacts to its environment, and how that environment affects it, presents a set of complex challenges, the results of which are fundamental to certification and safe operation. Tim Butler, chief test pilot at Nova Systems, was candid: “Environmental testing can be heinously difficult to manage, because you’re chasing weather conditions that rarely appear when you want them.”