E175 Flight Dynamics Test

[g5flyer]

Greetings,

After responding to a post about improper pitch on approach, I decided to give the E175 a quick flight test. The test profile was as follows.

73,000 pounds, standard day temperature and conditions.

1. Depart at 73,000 pounds, climb and maintain 10,000ft at 250kts. Verify 67% N1 and 3.5 pitch attitude: At 10.000ft and 250kts, N1 57.4% and pitch attitude 2 degrees. Shows sign that the aircraft has less than the required drag and a tad bit of too much wing lift in the clean configuration.

2. Select flight level change at 250kts and descend to 5000ft. Verify that achieved VVI is 1300 fpm and pitch attitude is 0: Aircraft descends at 900 fpm with a pitch of 0. Again, the aircraft may need some drag adjustment in the clean configuration.

3. At 5,000ft, slow to a holding speed of 210kts. Verify that the N1 is 59% with a pitch attitude of 5.5 degrees: In holding, the aircraft has N1s at 45% and a pitch attitude of 4.0. Tests shows that in the clean configuration drag is low and lift is a little high as expected.

4. At 5,000ft, slow to 184kts clean for terminal area check. Verify that N1 is 58% and a pitch attitude of 7.5: Aircraft reflected N1 as 46.6% with a pitch attitude of 6.0. As expected, light on drag and 1.5 degrees low on pitch.

5. In the landing configuration of flaps 5, slow to the calculated stall speed of 107kts(132/1.23Vs). Verify that the aircraft stalls near 107kts: Aircraft stalls at 122kts. Stall test shows that flap lift in the flaps 5 position is low.

6. Perform an ILS landing in the flaps 5 position. Verify that N1 is 59% and the pitch attitude is 4 on a 3 degree glide slope: The aircraft had a pitch of 7 to 7.5 and N1at 45% to 50% on the glide slope. Test confirms that flap lift is low and over all drag is low. The aircraft had difficulty stabilizing on the glide slope causing some minor fluxing 7 to 7.5 pitch and 45 to 50% N1.

The flight dynamics are not too far off and will make the simulation  right on with some minor adjustments. If you are wondering, I utilized the aircraft operating manual for the flight test reference. Below is an example of the data I use. I have owned version 1 and 2 of the feel there series. During the test, I also noticed that selecting APP while the aircraft is tracking the LOC will cause it to engage in basic AP mode instead of arming the GS.