The Flight Systems Integrity group performs research and provides engineering services to establish, evaluate, and substantiate the operational integrity of flight systems (airframes, engines, mechanical subsystems, and avionics) for military and commercial aircraft. The group is involved in Federal Aviation Administration-sponsored research to process and analyze operational flight and ground loads parameters data recorded during normal airline operations from B-737-400, B-747-400, B767-200ER, B-777-200, MD-82-83, B-767, BE-1900D, A-320, A-340 and CRJ100 aircraft. UDRI’s research efforts are directed toward the development of statistical operational usage data that can be used by the FAA, airlines, and aircraft manufacturers to assess the suitability of the Federal Aviation Requirements, the in-service system integrity of current aircraft, and for the development of design information and criteria for future aircraft designs.
Published Reports
Reports containing statistical flight and ground loads data for the B 737-400, B-767-200ER, B-747-400, MD-82/83, BE1900D, A-320, and CRJ100 aircraft resulting from UDRI’s research were provided to and have been published by the FAA. These FAA-published statistical loads data reports are available from the National Technical Information Service or can be downloaded directly from the FAA:
FAA Operational Loads Reports
Other reports covering statistical methods, describing procedures for reducing, analyzing, and presenting data, are also made available by the FAA.
Unpublished Reports
In a number of cases, UDRI prepared reports that were provided to but not published by the FAA because of sensitivity considerations or the limited scope of the topic. Reports containing sensitive material are not available, but those containing information of limited scope may be downloaded below .
A Method to Derive Continuous Turbulence Field Parameters Based on Aircraft Acceleration Measurements (UDR-TM-2008-7; PDF 745 KB)
Development of an Improved Maneuver-Gust Separation Criterion (UDR-TM-2008-8; PDF 1.1 MB)
Method to Derive Airplane Flight Mix and Flight Profile Descriptions from Operational Statistics (UDR-TM-2008-9; PDF 793 KB)
A Study of Sampling Rate Requirements for Some Load Parameter Statistics (UDR-TR-2004-146; PDF 7.5 MB)
A Study to Identify and Analyze Unusual Rudder and Vertical Tail Load Events (UDR-TM-2003-3; PDF 210 KB)
A Comparison of Landing Parameters from Manual and Automatic Landings of Airbus A320 Aircraft (UDR-TM-2001-3; PDF 617 KB)
An Evaluation of Continuous Atmospheric Turbulence Field Parameters Based on Commercial Aircraft Measurements (UDR-TM-1999-3; PDF 1.2 MB)
The Effect of Load Factor Experience on Damage to Eleven Boeing 737-400 Aircraft in Commercial Operations (UDR-TR-1997-126; PDF 913 KB)
Calculation of Load Factor Response of Small Airplanes to Continuous Turbulence (UDR-TR-1996-120; PDF 869 KB)