CHINOOK24: CH-47 Airframe Modifications to Aid Cargo Testing
- Program: Mechanical Engineering
- Course: EN.530.404 MechE Senior Design
Project Description:
The CH-47 Chinook is one of the Army’s workhorse helicopters used to transport large amounts of personnel and equipment. When a new payload is made, the military must certify it for transport on the CH-47. This task is the role of our sponsor, the Cargo and Special Operations Lab at Naval Air Station-Pax River. To facilitate the training and certification, the CHINOOK24 team designed and built a deployable ramp, lighting system, camera array, and winch. The team performed detailed structural analysis and load testing on the ramp to verify roll on capability of a 10,000lb vehicle. The project concluded with a successful installation and test of the ramp and all the support subsystems on NAS Pax River’s CH-47 test fuselage.
Project Photo:
Final installation and testing of our custom designed and manufactured CH-47 cargo loading ramp at NAS Pax River for qualification and certification of future Chinook payloads.