Flight Test Program for a General Aviation aircraft in asymmetric configuration: planning, execution and data processing

SmartBay solution enables a GA aircraft with the capability of boarding up to three different sensors simultaneously under the wing, thanks to a carbon fiber pylon, in order to quickly and efficiently reconfigure the payload and to perform complex, aerial mapping missions. The purpose of this dissertation is to present the work done during the final part of the certification program, involving the flight test activity, which led to the EASA Supplemental Type Certification approval of the Tecnam P92JS equipped with SmartBay system. The preparation of the Test Program and the execution of the tests was particularly interesting due to the asymmetry of the aircraft induced by such system and particular focus was on the procedures which involved lateral and directional maneuvers. All tests were carried out according to the test plan and no hazardous behaviors of the aircraft were encountered in any of the configurations tested. Some minor changes to the Aircraft Flight Manual performance section were however necessary.