Getting Dirty: Testing C-17 Airfield Performance in Dirt and Mud Landing Zones

摘要

Operational C-17 aircrew are tasked continually with direct delivery of critical combat equipment and supplies. The Semi-Prepared Runway Operations (SPRO) testing was a joint Air Force Flight Test Center/Army Engineering Research and Development Center effort to expand airfield performance data to include a large part of the world's soil types, wet soil conditions, and a sizable increase in the allowable landing gross weight. Five landing zones were constructed around the United States in various soil types. A C-17 was instrumented for structural loads and performance measurements and modified to operate in dirt and mud. After extensive test and safety planning, site preparation, and aircrew training, the test team began to expand the C-17 SPRO capabilities through a build-up/down approach in gross weight/RCR at each runway, in sequence. The complexity of test support at multiple, deployed locations, large uncertainty in aircraft performance and landing zone response, and specific weather requirements were continual challenges for the test team. Extensive planning, a deliberate build-up approach, and extreme operational flexibility were validated as keys to success for this flight test program. The immediate, distinct advances that this flight test program provides to the operational mobility crews defines successful military flight test in the current age.