By John C. Milliman
PMA-276 Public Affairs
[email protected]

NAVAIR PATUXENT RIVER, Md -- Zulu One, the first AH-1Z Super Cobra prototype, passed the 300-flight hour mark here July 2 during a routine envelope expansion test flight.

Flown by Marine Lt. Col. Keith Danel and Bell Helicopter-Textron test pilot Herb Moran, Zulu One's latest milestone came during an effort to finalize aircraft configuration and establish an envelope for all three test AH-1Z aircraft.

"From one aspect this should not be a big deal," said Danel. "But the longer we fly it, the more we trust in its reliability and robustness. The more time we spend with these aircraft in test before they are fielded, the better everyone should feel about what we know about them."

The aircraft was originally scheduled to fly a total of 300 hours in flight test before transferring to NAVAIR China Lake, Calif., to be used as a live-fire target testing survivability, according to Danel, the Developmental Test lead (and chief government test pilot) for the H-1 Integrated Test Team. But changes in the test plan have since postponed Zulu One's date with the firing squad.

Zulu One's Developmental flight test efforts have already discovered a few areas where even more performance gains can be achieved, according to Marine Maj. Harry Hewson, the H-1 Upgrades Program operations lead.

Specifically, the original design called for end plates attached to the elevators on the tailboom. Testing has since discovered that the end plates didn't really help any and that drag could be reduced a little if they were removed.

Also, making the elevators trimable, rather than fixed, helps reduce dynamic component stress, Hewson explained.

"Finding, and incorporating little improvements like that are the whole point of EMD," said Hewson. "And even little improvements like this require additional testing to map and validate them."

Danel agrees.

"We want to find fewer surprises in the fleet hopefully," he added.

With the improvements being found in the flight test phase, the program is still tracking to the original estimate, according to Danel.

"We've reached the 300-hour mark in 19 months since our first flight Dec. 7, 2000," explained Danel. "We're averaging 16 hours per month. And 16 hours per month is what we predicted our original flight rate on Zulu One would be in this developmental phase of testing."

Chasing Danel and Moran on the milestone flight were Marine Maj. Pat Mohr and H-1 Upgrades flight test engineer Mike McDonald in an AH-1W Super Cobra.

Recently, the first UH-1Y prototype, Yankee One, made its flight debut here. Two more Zulus and one Yankee will join the two aircraft in flight test by the end of the summer. All five EMD aircraft are now here.

H-1 Upgrade Program is upgrading the Marine Corps' aging fleet of combat utility and attack helicopters by remanufacturing UH-1N Hueys and AH-1W Super Cobras to share a common drive train, rotor head, tail boom, avionics, software and controls for 84 percent commonality between the two aircraft.

Over the 30-year expected lifespan of the aircraft, this commonality is projected to save the Marine Corps approximately $3 Billion in operating and support costs.

And because of the Marines' unique expeditionary nature, this commonality will also reduce the logistical "foot print" of Marine light attack helicopter squadrons, or HMLA's, that operate both aircraft. The common features of the aircraft mean less spare parts will be required to be kept on hand, training for aircrew and maintainers will be simpler and deployments will be easier.

The UH-1 "Huey" has been in service since 1956. With more than 16,000 produced by Bell and it's foreign licensees, in more than 35 variants for the U.S. Department of Defense, foreign military sales and civilian users, it is the most successful military helicopter ever built.

The Corps' current Huey fleet, the UH-1N, is expected to exceed its planned service life of 10,000 hours in FY04. Designed in the 1960's and fielded in the 1970's, the current fleet has never had a service life extension or major upgrade.

While not as "experienced" as the Huey, the Corps' current fleet of Super Cobras is also showing its age and is facing increasing challenges on the 21st Century battlefield. The upgrades being made to both aircraft, in addition to making them easier to field and maintain, will also make them easier to fly, faster, more capable and more survivable.

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300hr.jpg 300 hours and counting - The first AH-1Z Super Cobra prototype, front, recently passed the 300-flight hour mark during a routine test flight here. The aircraft (shown here on an earlier flight), flown by Marine Lt. Col. Keith Danel and Bell Helicopter-Textron test pilot Herb Moran, was finalizing aircraft configuration and establishing an envelope for all three test AH-1Z aircraft. Marine Maj. Pat Mohr and H-1 Upgrades flight test engineer Mike McDonald flew chase on the historic flight in an AH-1W Super Cobra (back).