Factor: Eurocopter pushed existing rotor technology with its X3 demonstrator. Flight test engineer Dominique Fournier explains the compan strp-by-sep approach to testing and proving the helicoper over its 156-hour test program

摘要

Eurocopter revealed its X3 technology demonstrator on September 27, 2010, just days after its first flight. The aircraft was designed to test high-performance helicopter technologies and achieved a string of notable milestones in flight test. But while flying was the most obvious and dramatic component of the X3 project, Eurocopter also developed an exhaustive test program for the machine, including wind tunnel tests, bench tests and simulator work, which continues to inform its work.