Teamwork leads to record-setting engine test

  • Published
  • By Janae' Daniels
  • High Mach Editor
Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. --  The people who embody the "Team AEDC" center phrase once again have proven they are the best at what they do. 

The J-2 Test Team completed all of the customer's mission objectives and set a new record for the longest continuous engine test period (52.5 hours) in the cell. 

The results of this test were critical to the qualification of the F135-PW-100 engine for the Air Force's new F-35 Lightning II fighter. 

That team comprised of AEDC engineers - Air Force and contractors alike - craftsmen, data analysis engineers and investment experts recently conducted an altitude performance and qualification test on an F135 engine. 

According to Aerospace Testing Alliance's (ATA) Jeremy Morris, J-2 F135 lead project engineer, the whole J-2 test team, which included the 717th Test Squadron, Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Joint Programs Office (JPO), ATA and Pratt & Whitney (P&W), estimated more than 50 hours of required mission objectives remained as the engine entered the final week of testing. 

"There were concerns that some of the objectives would be postponed or dropped due to test window constraints presented by the scheduled TEDAC facility outage," Morris said. "The entire test team did a fantastic job of identifying the highest priority objectives, coordinating support, developing a plan, which maximized test efficiency and executing that plan with an amazing level of precision. 

John Kelly, the Air Force manager for the project, said this test was important when looking at the acquisition road map of the whole JSF program. 

"This test was not just on a specific engine, per se, or just the F135 program, but this qualification test affects the whole JSF program," Kelly said. 

Lt. Col. Latheef Ahmed, 717th Test Squadron commander, feels it truly was an AEDC team effort, involving everyone from the plant, maintenance, TESG [704th Test Systems Group] as well as the Engine Test Facility (ETF). 

"This test has extremely high visibility; in fact, the test was requested by the two-Star general that runs the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office in D.C. There was teleconference between him, Col. [Michael] Panarisi [AEDC commander] and our test team to discuss the testing." 

This particular test was in support of the Air Force and Navy version of the F135 Conventional Take-Off and Landing variant and Carrier Variant (CTOL/CV) Initial Service Release (ISR) Qualification for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. 

Jeff Albro, JSF Joint Program Office's (JPO) F135 Test & Evaluation manager, valued the team's willingness to work with the JPO in order to get test objectives completed. 

"The J-2 CTOL/CV altitude qualification test was a great success, with emphasis on the final 'push' in the last long air period," Albro said. "This push was required in order to complete the objectives prior to the facility outage in October. The JPO sincerely appreciates the teamwork, flexibility and can-do attitude of the Air Force, ATA and Pratt & Whitney in completing this test." 

According to Kris Hughes with the center's 651st Test Systems Squadron, the Aeropropulsion Systems Test Facility (ASTF) airside outage was planned to begin Oct. 1, but it was necessary to operate through Oct. 2 in order to accomplish F135 test objectives. 

"Impact to the TEDAC [Turbine Engine Dry Air Capability] project and other ASTF maintenance work was minimized by excellent communication and teamwork between test, investment and maintenance teams," Hughes said. 

According to Tim Layton, Aeropropulsion Plant Operations Branch manager, the work the Engine Test Facility (ETF) plant operation and maintenance engineers and operations and maintenance crews did in order to have the plant ready to support the F135 testing following the ETF summer turnaround was exemplarily. 

"The efforts by these personnel to meet the tight schedule to complete testing the last week of September exemplifies their commitment to excellence and fulfills the FA [Facilities Operations & Maintenance Department] organization vision as 'an organization I'm proud to be part of,'" Layton said. "For the plant to be able to provide qualification performance test flight conditions of altitude within 50 feet of target ranging from true sea level to 35,000 feet, Mach number, within 0.01 of target and inlet temps within one degree of target, speaks highly of plant personnel's desire to be the best." 

Garry Blaisdell, Pratt & Whitney (P&W) AEDC site manager echoed the admiration for the entire cross functional team involved in the test article preparation and flawless test execution. 

"P&W's [Pratt & Whitney] resident support team is small, we brought in engineers, maintenance and inspection personnel from across P&W to support and execute the test plan," Blaisdell said. "This blended team of professionals from P&W and ATA were focused on success and producing 100 percent quality; there was no room for error." 

According to Blaisdell there was only one shot at completing the remaining altitude CTOL/CV ISR qualification objectives prior to the facility outage. 

"There were 40 hours of altitude test objectives remaining necessary to collect and deliver engine test data required to validate and substantiate engine performance in support of the November ISR F135 program milestone," Blaisdell explained. "Meeting this ISR milestone is critical to the F135 and JSF programs because it releases the engine configuration for production delivery, planned to start in November. 

"The center's ability to flawlessly operate this production representative F135 engine while attaining all planned test points within the F-35 flight envelope, exemplifies the operations here and our 10 years and 3,400 hours of F135 testing at AEDC, it is a true reflection of the centers motto, 'Test Before Flight.'"