Airworthiness and Flight Characteristics Evaluation of the EH-60A (Quick Fix) Helicopter

The U.S. Army Aviation Engineering Flight Activity conducted a limited Airworthiness and Flight Characteristics test of the EH-60A (Quick Fix) helicopter. During the test program, 49 flights were conducted for a total of 63.5 hours, of which 47.1 were productive. Initially the EH-60A was modified to the utility configuration where 22.3 productive hours were flown airspeed calibration, level flight performance, and vibration characteristics. All tests were performed at a Quick Fix mission center of gravity of approximately 361.9 fuselage station for both the utility and Quick Fix configuration. The Quick Fix configuration resulted in a 5.2 square feet increase in equivalent flat plate area which results in a 5% degradation in specific range at the recommended cruise airspeed, a 2% increase in fuel flow at the maximum endurance airspeed, and a 4 knot degradation in maximum level flight airspeed at sea level standard day conditions and mission gross weight (17,200 pound). The handling qualities of the Quick Fix configured EH-60A were essentially unchanged from the standard UH-60A helicopter. The clearance between the main rotor blades and direction finding dipole antennas during nose down slope landings was adequate. The absence of lower console lighting for the communication and navigation equipment was identified as a deficiency. The following previously ported shortcomings still exist: poor maneuvering stability characteristics, large lateral stick jump during mission maneuvers, high rev vibration levels, the insufficient legibility of the code numerals of the AN/APX-100(V) transponder, and the one way selection of the code selector buttons of the AN/APX-100(V) transponder.