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LYNNWOOD, Wash. – December 14, 2004 –
Crane Aerospace & Electronics has successfully completed Phase II of a
three-phase Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with
the USAF Air Mobility Battlelab (AMB) for the new AirWeighs Weight &
Balance System. Crane Aerospace & Electronics demonstrated the system on
a C-130 Hercules aircraft at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration
Center in Tucson, Arizona, where the accuracy of the on-board Weight &
Balance System was tested against a set of pre-calibrated ground scales.
The AMB required that AirWeighs weigh the C-130 within ±2% of the ground
scales. AirWeighs repeatedly registered numbers within 1% of the scales
on the 150,000 -pound aircraft.
AirWeighs is
designed to provide significant improvements in flight safety by giving
aircrews the ability to accurately measure aircraft weight and balance
before take off. Operations from short, unimproved runways; through a
range of elevations; in all weather conditions; and, not infrequently,
in hostile fire zones, make accurate weight and balance information even
more critical to safe flight operations. In June of 2002, for example, a
Combat Talon II was lost in Afghanistan, and later investigation
determined that inaccurate information overloaded the aircraft, and
caused the crash that claimed the lives of two Airmen and one soldier.
Dan Stockwell,
director of engineering, explains the unique capabilities of the
AirWeighs system. “AirWeighs replaces “best estimate” weight
calculations – based on external data – with highly accurate, real-time
on-board measurement that can be programmed directly into an aircraft
flight computer."
With the
successful completion of the Phase II ground-based demonstration, the
program now moves into the Phase III flight test program, which requires
the AirWeighs System to be “mission ready” for in-service operations.
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