The USAF SEEK EAGLE office, which has responsibility for all Air Force aircraft - store compatibility/certification activity is located at Eglin AFB FL. Two Eglin F-16 aircraft, primarily used by the SEEK EAGLE office for flutter and loads testing, recently underwent major instrumentation upgrades. This paper presents a comparison between the previous, pre-mission labor intensive analog FM-FM/low speed data acquisition system and the new miniature data collection system, referred to as Mini Common Airborne Instrumentation System (MCAIS), including PC work station compatible digital recorders. Issues concerning existing flight test aircraft instrumentation compatibility, commonality, installation design considerations, data supportability, reduced manning automated preflight data validation, low cost PC work station and data reduction are discussed.
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