By JAMES DARCY
NAS Patuxent River Public Affairs Department

PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR STATION, MD-The test team for the Boeing X-32 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) demonstrator has completed its required flight tests for the concept demonstration phase of the JSF program. On July 1, the short-takeoff-vertical-landing (STOVL) X-32B made three low-speed, STOVL-mode takeoffs here, satisfying the final government test requirement for the X-32 demonstrators.

Boeing STOVL test pilot Dennis "Irish" O'Donoghue brought the aircraft off the ground with just 80 knots forward air speed, using the jet's vertical list nozzles to propel it into the air. According to Katy Fleming, Boeing's JSF system test director, these initial flights did not emphasize minimum takeoff distance, but follow-on flights will aim for takeoff after just 450 feet of roll.

Fleming said short takeoff was the last of several requirements for STOVL aircraft under the JSF concept demonstration contract. In the two previous weeks, the joint government-industry test team had already proven the X-32B's ability to hold a stable hover, transition from conventional flight to STOVL mode and land vertically. In February, Boeing completed testing on its X-32A, its concept demonstrator for both a JSF carrier variant and conventional-takeoff-and-landing variant.

Although the X-32 test team has met its obligations for concept demonstration, flight test will continue on the X-32B through the end of July, targeting performance specifications for the engineering, manufacturing and development (EMD) phase of the JSF program. Boeing is in competition to win the EMD contract, under which they would provide JSF variants to the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, as well as the British Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

Additional flight tests on the X-32B will yield data that can be compared to predictions Boeing has made about their aircraft's performance. "The goal is to demonstrate our ability to predict, simulate and validate our performance models," Fleming explained. "We also have some Boeing strategic objectives that we want to finish," she added.

The extra flights will also provide an opportunity for the test team's government pilots to explore the STOVL flight regime. O'Donoghue has been in the cockpit for the majority of the STOVL flights, while Marine Corps Maj. Jeff Karnes and Royal Navy Lt. Cdr. Paul Stone have provided control room support or flight chase. In coming weeks, Karnes and Stone will have their turn at the controls for hovers, vertical landings and short takeoffs.

As of July 1, the joint government-industry test team had set a landmark pace of 37 test flights at Pax River in just two weeks. "We're setting new standards here," Fleming said. She attributes the high sortie rate and program successes to a number of variables. "Obviously, you have to have a good jet that's highly maintainable and reliable," she said.

She gives equal credit, however, to the makeup of the joint test team and the tools and processes it has employed.

Besides military and civil service representation, Boeing's touted JSF "One Team" ties in 34 leading aerospace contractors. "We're integrating each and every member of the team as if they were a Boeing employee. Everyone knows what the vision is," Fleming said. "It's been truly outstanding to see everyone come together and function seamlessly."

Pax River employees or alumni figure prominently in the test team, starting with Fleming herself. She patiently accepts the "local girl makes good" angle to her story. Fleming graduated the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School as a flight test engineer in Class 100, and spent several years at Pax River working in carrier suitability at Naval Strike Aircraft Test Squadron. She left Strike for the Program Executive Office for Tactical Aircraft [PEO(T)] in the Naval Air Systems Command, where she provided program management until 1995.

"I left and went to work for Boeing expressly with the purpose of working on JSF," she said. "I was able to come in on the ground floor.

"We started with a blank sheet of paper, as far as the test program was concerned. In the six years since then, we've gone through the design and build of the airplane, and now the very successful completion of concept demonstration test flight," she said.

The past weeks at Pax River have been a homecoming of rare design for Fleming. "I loved it here," she recalled. "To come back like this, being responsible for this flight test program - it feels like coming full circle."

On the morning of July 2, she allowed herself a moment of quiet celebration before the predawn start of another typical JSF day at Pax. Coming on station at 3:30 a.m., she detoured down to the beach, parked the car, and looked out over the dark Chesapeake while the breeze blew in off the water. "It was a time to reflect," she said. "The feeling is almost indescribable. All of my past experiences here at Pax have prepared me to be here again, doing what I'm doing today."

-USN-