Test flight instrumentation

Each time a new aircraft is first sent aloft, its test pilots are accompanied by a multitude of sensors capturing data on every aspect of its performance, in terms of acceleration, vibration, shock, temperature extremes and so on, usually in tandem with video. Curtiss-Wright in Dublin specialises in data acquisition systems for such flights. The business was founded back in 1991 by a quartet of Dublin City University graduates, originally named ‘Acra’ – from the Gaelic for ‘utensil’ . Acra was acquired by Curtiss-Wright in 2011.