Concept of a Predictive Tool for Ship-Helicopter Operational Limitations of Various In-Service Conditions

Qualification programs to define ship helicopter operational limitations are based on a large number of independent variables causing the full operational potential to be almost impossible to achieve within the small window normally allowed for sea trials. It would be a clear advantage to have a predictive engineering tool to perform early evaluations of safety limits for operating aircraft from ships in a wide range of in-service conditions, and so be less dependent on the dedicated sea trials. For this reason, a predictive analysis tool, SHOL-X, is under development based on specific rejection criteria for each helicopter type and their dependencies in the ship environment. The object of this paper is to describe the concept of such a tool that can be used for determining the so-called candidate flight envelope for a helicopter operating on a certain ship type. This tool enables performing larger operational steps in an incremental approach toward defining flight envelope restrictions and sensible exclusion of test points. The prediction accuracy of this analysis tool allows advanced insight into cost effectiveness of complete sea trials and ultimately certification of large parts of the envelope with a reduction in the amount of sea trials.