Although significant strides were made in recent years toward improving aviation safety, mishaps involving all classes of helicopters presently are and will continue to be a major, expensive U.S. Army problem in terms of casualties, material loss, and reduction in mission effectiveness. Modern day training and tactical employment requirments for the U.S. Army helicopter dictate that a large percentage of operations occur in the low-speed, low-altitude flight regime, which contributes to the problem by reducing critical margins of safety normally associated with higher airspeed and higher altitude operations with accompanying greater time for response in case of an emergency. This increased probability of accident occurrence, coupled with the lack of in-flight egress capability, makes design for crashworthiness essential for Army helicopters. The evolution of crash survival design for rotary-wing aircraft and its application to current and new generation Army helicopters are discussed. Emphasis is given to the need for a total systems' approach in design for crashworthiness and the necessity for considering crashworthiness early in the design phase of an aviation weapons development effort. The actual application of crashworthiness to Army helicopters is presented with statistics that show dramatic reductions in fatalities and injuries with implementation of a crashworthy fuel system. The cost effective aspects of designing helicopters to be more crash survivable are also discussed.
Evolving Crashworthiness Design Criteria
1988
8 pages
Report
No indication
English
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