Reliability of Aircraft as Determined by Operational Field Tests

The Need for Proper Test Design and Data Requirements

Colin Frank Bell

Expert InsightsPublished 1969

An analysis of the problems involved in reliability testing of complete aircraft systems and suggestions for improved operational testing. The probable causes of the extraordinary variances in reported reliabilities of apparently similar equipment can be grouped in three categories: reliability characteristics of the equipment and the operating and environmental stresses to which it is subjected; the complexities and interactions of aircraft systems; and faulty data inferences caused by ambiguous information. Therefore, practical reliability validation by operational field testing requires a test design that considers not only classical statistical matters and control of variables, but also an approach similar to that of management information system design. 16 pp. (MJP)

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Bell, Colin Frank, Reliability of Aircraft as Determined by Operational Field Tests: The Need for Proper Test Design and Data Requirements. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1969. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P4054.html.
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