Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2012
2012 Paper No. 12431 Page 1 of 11
Leveraging Technologies to Reverse Engineer a Helicopter for Simulator
Development
Steven J. Smith Brad Torgler
FlightSafety International FlightSafety International
Broken Arrow, OK Broken Arrow, OK
steven.smith@flightsafety.com bradley.torgler@flightsafety.com
ABSTRACT
Developing high fidelity Level D quality full flight training devices requires detailed data to accurately simulate the
cockpit, instruments, aircraft systems, Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS), power plants and flight dynamics.
In an ideal scenario, all the data needed for simulating the aircraft is provided by the Original Equipment
Manufacturer (OEM). Without OEM data, the engineering challenges for developing the simulator are greatly
increased as new methods must be used to gather this information.
Recently, FlightSafety International developed a high fidelity helicopter training device without the support of the
OEM. The primary resource available for the design, development and validation of the simulator was access to a
production aircraft. The entire Level D simulator, from the electronic cockpit indications to the high fidelity flight
dynamics model, had to be reverse engineered from this aircraft.
This paper reports on the leveraging of several innovative technologies to reverse engineer a Eurocopter EC-135
aircraft for the successful development of a full flight Level D simulator. An overview of the aircraft as well as the
standard simulation development process is given followed by details of how the EC-135 simulator was developed.
A comprehensive description is provided on the 3D scanning methods used to noninvasively gather aircraft
geometric information, from the smallest cockpit detail to the individual rotor airfoil profiles. Further discussion is
provided on the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis applied to the airfoil profiles to identify the 2D
aerodynamic coefficients that were then used in the physics-based blade element model to simulate the EC-135 main
rotor and Fenestron. Finally, extensive flight testing, system testing and parameter identification methods were used
to further quantify the flight dynamics model, power plant, aircraft systems, cockpit indications, mechanical flight
control characteristics and the complex AFCS control laws.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Steven J. Smith is a Senior Staff Engineer at FlightSafety Simulation. In his 17 years at FlightSafety, Steven has
been involved with the design, implementation and regulatory approval of real-time, high fidelity, flight dynamics
models for fixed and rotary wing flight simulators. Steven holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in
Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas.
Brad Torgler is a Senior Engineer at FlightSafety International. He has five years of experience in the development
and deployment of various flight dynamics models for several Level D aircraft simulators. Brad’s degrees include a
Bachelor and Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas and a Diploma of
Aerospace Engineering from the Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics located in Belgium.
