RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT - BEING A FLIGHT TEST PROFESSIONAL

As a civil test pilot you tend to get a lot of disparate tasks for Part 21 organisations which is why you get the enjoyment of flying so many different types.? Type ratings are not required to deliver the required outputs and typically you fly with a senior aircraft captain as safety pilot, who understands the limitations of the aircraft and normally trusts you to deliver all aspects of the flight test within the Rotor Flight Manual limitations.? A few years ago I was asked by a Part 21 to support a modification to the UK MODs Bell 212 helicopters then operated by the Army in Brunei but on lease through Cobham Helicopter Services (a now defunct organisation).? The aircraft was being operated under the Military Registered Civil Owned Aircraft (MRCOA) whereby the aircraft is maintained to civil standards and where airworthiness was subject to oversight by the UK CAA.

As with all UK MOD projects there was a need to make sure that each organisation understood its role in the development and certification of the modification such that airworthiness could be correctly overseen by the MOD and the Army’s Release to Service Authority.? This, however, did not remove the civil Part 21s airworthiness responsibilities and its responsibilities to the Cobham CAMO.? Initial meetings however, showed quite quickly that elements of the MOD organisation did not understand the MRCOA principles or indeed how Part 21 organisations were organised to deliver flight tests using their own Certification Verification Engineers of which Test Pilots are one element.? Indeed, it was clear that certain elements of the organisation did not really want to work with the Part 21 in delivery of the flight test and started to place barriers in the way of delivery.

The process for authorising personnel to fly flight tests for the MOD is a well trodden path even for sub contractors and my knowledge of the system was built on my time at both ETPS and the MAA.? However it seemed that the Chief Test Pilot of the Air Warfare Centre (AWC) at the time had a problem with me specifically flying the test.? Despite filling in the required forms completely and comprehensively a number of limitations were place on me delivering the test, specifically that I could not touch the aircraft controls.? This was wide of the norm for such activity and really against the premise of delivering the test.? I could have dug in but decided it was more important to deliver for the Part 21 and the MOD in general rather than make a big fuss -? it was close however.

?Having jumped through the hurdles it then came to the day of the flight test at the Army Air Corps base at Middle Wallop.? Given some rather interesting concerns on delivery of the test the AWC also insisted that another test pilot would have to accompany me rather than one of the line pilots.? On arrival at the unit I was surprised that there was another MOD contractor Flight Test Engineer(FTE) present whose role was initially unclear since it was the Pt21 Engineer and I who were running the whole test plan.? It then transpired that the MOD contractor FTE was there to ‘check’ that we did the test correctly and that, indeed, I did not touch the controls.? I nearly walked out at this point and was very angry at the lack of trust being placed in us as competent personnel fully qualified to deliver the task.

Again, I bit my tongue and determined I needed to deliver the test as briefed that day as I had been contracted to.? We briefed the sortie and then, with a significant degree of awkwardness, delivered the flight trials activity exactly in accordance with the test plan, which should not have been surprise to anyone.? On completion we delivered the required paperwork and the modification was certified exactly in accordance with the rules.

Some takeaways:

-????????????? Never underestimate bias within an organisation where they don’t understand the rules and perhaps feel threatened by your presence as an outsider.

-????????????? Do not assume that your customer, whoever they might be, understands regulations, even their own.

-????????????? Always be professional and deliver the task to the highest standard irrespective of the ignorance of the other organisations and your own offence at their lack of professionalism.

There are certain people involved in the decisions surrounding this trial that I can never work with again.? Perhaps that’s why I enjoy working for the government in Norway, well away from legacy bias and certainly one which appreciates me for my experience, knowledge and professionalism. You might wish to guess the organisations and personnel involved, I couldn't possibly comment!