The aircraft is usually fitted with a sensor
pod on one of the underwing hardpoints and
a boom.
“We generally stick booms on all of our
aircraft, with a five-hole probe up front, which
enables us not only to measure total and
static pressures but also flow angles,” said
Brieger.
“We also use the Caravan for flying in
the lower atmosphere, in the boundary
layer where we do a lot of turbulence
measurements – we fly under clouds – and
also for atmospheric research missions.”THE TANK
The oldest test bed in the DLR fleet is its
Falcon 20E, D-CMET (c/n 329). Brieger
calls the aircraft a “tank” because of its
robust airframe.
“The aircraft took a lot of technology from
the early Mirages, so the wing box is very,
very strong,” he remarked.
The Falcon is used for atmospheric
research missions and played a key role
in the sampling and recording of real-time
measurements of the ash cloud when the
Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted in
2010, closing large swathes of airspace over
Europe and the Atlantic.
“The work was to validate the predictions
made by the Met Office in the UK, to see
if the ash plume was where they thought it
was,” recalled Brieger. “The Falcon was one
of the few aircraft that was actually allowedto fly, as the whole airspace was closed
down, because we had the ability to detect
and analyse the ash cloud’s position in
real-time. Because of the results the Falcon
delivered, part of the airspace was opened
up again.”
The aircraft is also used regularly at low
level, for instance flying through the exhaust
plumes from ships.
Oberpfaffenhofen is also home to one
of two Dornier 228s in DLR’s care. The
Bavarian based turboprop, D-CFFU (c/n
8180), is the stretched -212 variant and is
essentially a dedicated radar testbed.
“We mount big synthetic aperture
antennas on the aircraft,” said Brieger. “We
have big fairings on the fuselage and on
the bottom, mainly for Earth observation
missions where we do a lot of ground
mapping in high resolution.”
Shortly before Aviation News’ visit to
DLR, the aircraft conducted a campaign in
Greenland where it measured glaciers and the
ice to ascertain the effect of global warming.
“The aircraft that are based here are
mainly used for global missions,” Brieger
explained.
“Essentially they are used for airborne
science; we use them as a research
platform. We integrate sophisticated
scientific instruments on the aircraft, which
vary from mission to mission – then we will
go and fly wherever in the world we are
required. “Up in Braunschweig it is morefocused on the flight research side, although
this distinction is not exclusive. Whenever
we need an aircraft with special features or
characteristics that lends itself to a specific
project or mission, obviously we will use that
aircraft regardless.”ATRA
The biggest aircraft based in Braunschweig,
and the largest test bed in the DLR fleet, is
Airbus A320-232, D-ATRA (c/n 659). The
aircraft was originally built as a standard
passenger aircraft for Germany’s Aero Lloyd
and saw service with Niki in Austria before
joining DLR in June 2006.
“It’s a highly instrumented A320, which
we use mainly for basic research in aero,”
said Brieger.
The aircraft, known as ATRA (Advanced
Technology Research Aircraft), is also used
for air traffic management applications,
such as new approach schemes looking at
reducing noise emissions on the ground.
“We do precise 4D navigation with the
aircraft in order, for instance, to fly curved
approaches with the aircraft for noise
abatement,” Brieger added.
“Recently we used synthetic fuel on
the aircraft to look at emissions and the
development of contrails; we were sniffing
with the Falcon out the back to see what was
coming out.”
DLR’s second Dornier 228 is currently
being fitted with a digital autopilot to enable it
to be used as a surrogate UAV.
Brieger explained: “We have an up- and
downlink capability that can be controlled
from the ground as a surrogate UAV,
obviously with a safety pilot still on board.”ROTARY FLEET
DLR operates two fully experimental
helicopters. Its Eurocopter EC135, D-HFHS,
is unique. It has a quadruple fly-by-wire/
fly-by-light (FBW/FBL) flight control system,
which enables the flight team to manipulate
the helicopter’s characteristics.
“One speciality of DLR is in-flight
simulation – the capability to superimpose
the dynamics of any aircraft, be it generic
or real, onto the host aircraft and then to
assess, for instance the handling qualities, in
the true environment,” explained Brieger.
The FBL control system uses fibre
optics to transfer the signals between theAt the smaller end of the scale, DLR uses high-tech gliders, such as Lange E-1 Antares D-KDLR.
AirTeamImages.com/Felix Gottwald38 Aviation News incorporating Jets February 2018DLR has two Dornier Do228s at its disposal. This example, D-CODE, is based at Braunschweig and is
currently being fitted with a digital autopilot for surrogate UAV use. AirTeamImages.com/Wolfgang Mendorf36-40_dlrDC.mfDC.indd 38 05/01/2018 16:54