What is calibration flying?

Question

One of my friends said that her boyfriend is a pilot and does calibration flying, without sounding incredibly ignorant, could someone please tell me what exactly it means and what he does? Thanks!

Answer 1

Calibrations are very specialized kind of aircraft that fly very close to the tree tops and you never see them when they fly over your house... only hear them after they're gone. They use flight line to measure the heights of the tree tops. It's kind of like crop dusting, but much more dangerous.  Calibration pilots usually don't survive more than a year or two.

Answer 2

hey doc, you make it sound like they are falling out of the sky.

not!

calibration flying  is a term that can be applied to many areas.  for instance, GPS navaids need to be calibrated..especially commercial AC.  Flying a designated course over a known bearing and distance will calibrate the system

this is also useful for Satellites, but these are unmanned.

most commonly its used in Geographical Surveys to coordinate GPS data to maps and mapping programs.

http://www.beg.utexas.edu/coastal/poster...

is a good site for this info.

Answer 3

In the UK, at least and I imagine it's the same anywhere, a specially instrumented aircraft with an accurate crew is flown to check that navigational aids, instrument landing systems etc., are producing the right signals.  F'rinstance an ILS is not a lot of use if following it lands an aircraft in the field next door!  Radars are also calibrated for the same reason, so that controllers get an accurate picture on their screens. (Like, if the radar shows the aircraft to be at 2500 feet and it's actually at 2000 feet, some tweaking is needed!)

It usually means that the pilots are particularly accurate in their flying  and have a high boredom threshold as the flights are often carried out over and over to get the results accurately.

Answer 4

It may mean that he works for the FAA when they calibrate the various navigational aides that assist pilots align their airplanes for the instrument approach for the runway. The Federal Government has quite a few airplanes just flying around measuring the abilities of the many many little navigational radio stations that dot our country that help pilots   " connect the dots"  between airports.  Or maybe he works for a company that makes special flying equipment for navigation and it needs to be tested before it goes to market.  Every so often certain airplanes need a  navigation equipment calibration check up. Simply put, the  electric compass gets a "tune up ".

Answer 5

idk