Integrating Stores on Aircraft by Comparison

When aircraft are designed with the ability to carry stores, many different types of stores are integrated with the aircraft. This catalogue of approved store configurations becomes a database of verified engineering data that facilitates the integration of new stores, even when limited data on the carriage aircraft is available. In the integration by comparison approach, the combined aerodynamic and inertial loads imposed on the store mounting or attachment by other approved stores over the approved flight envelopes are determined. This results in load envelopes that were found acceptable by the OEM or airworthiness authorities. The combined aerodynamic and inertial loads of the new store over its intended flight envelope are then determined for the same store attachment and aircraft type. If the loads and moments generated by the new store fall within the load envelopes determined for the comparison stores, then the new store configuration and its proposed flight envelope is deemed to be acceptable from a carriage loads perspective (all other aspects of store integration engineering must still be performed). The application of this method to the integration of a large pod with the BAE Hawk aircraft is described.