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Meeting	ACGS Committee Meeting 95 - Salt Lake City - March 2005
Agenda Location	4 GENERAL COMMITTEE TECHNICAL SESSION 4.2 Research Institutions, Industry and University Reports 4.2.1 Research Institutes and Companies 4.2.1.8 Calspan
Title	Calspan
Presenter	Lou Knotts
Available Downloads*	presentation
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Abstract	The former General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems business operations related to flight and aerospace research are now an independent small business known as Calspan Corporation based in Buffalo, NY. The following topics were discussed: Divestiture by General Dynamics New Niagara Falls Hangar Additional Learjet In-flight Simulator Automatic Aerial Refueling Project FAA Upset Recovery Training General Dynamics chose to divest much of the aeronautical research operations of the former Veridian Corporation and dialogue related to this activity took place throughout 2004. Finally, in mid February 2005 the Buffalo Aero and Transportation Testing operations were divested to a local management group. This business which consists of the Flight Research operation, the Transonic Wind Tunnel, the Transportation Science Center, the Crash Data Research Center, and the System Integration operation became Calspan Corporation (again) at that time. The new Flight Research hangar at the Niagara Falls Airport is nearly complete. The Calspan research aircraft were relocated to the hangar in late November 2004. Some of the engineering spaces including electronic shops and the machine shop were complete at that time. The remainder of the complex will be complete and occupied by April 2005. An additional Learjet Model 25D was acquired in late February in order to modify it into an in-flight simulator. This effort will take approximately 1 year and cost slightly under $2M. The purpose of this aircraft will predominantly be to provide a platform to support Upset Recovery Training demand and eventually to replace the first Learjet in-flight simulator which has been in operation for 24 years. Discussion of 2 current technical projects: The first project discussed is the continuation of the Automated Aerial Refueling project for AFRL. In this project the Learjet is used as a surrogate for J-UCAS. EO and Precision GPS sensors were installed and evaluated with respect to a NYANG KC-135 tanker last fall. This coming summer the engines of the Learjet will be modified to include servo control in order to provide x-axis control of the Learjet. Closed loop control tests in the refueling position are planned for the summer of 2006. The FAA Upset Recovery Training project is continuing again this year. The goal is to optimize airborne training for airline pilots in order to reduce the loss of control accidents in the Air Transport community. Over 200 pilots have received this training so far and the response has been very positive. Data is being collected on the training flights in order to help determine the efficacy of the training. Based on the “Recovery Rating” scores (similar to Cooper-Harper) gathered from the training subjects the data shows that pilots who have moderate to high confidence of recovery from upset events jumps from 51% to 99% after receiving this airborne training. Pilots who feel that their loss-of-control recoveries are in doubt drop from 49% to 1% following the airborne training. Several air carriers are now in discussion with Calspan to include this training routinely in their Captain training.