Vital Link has been a major supplier in the aircraft Hush House market since 1990, including Hush House projects in support of the USAF and the Air forces of other governments worldwide.
Primarily designed for military fighter aircraft use, a Hush House is a facility that provides an enclosed, acoustically treated environment to run various aircraft types with the engines installed or to test un-installed engines. The Hush House provides an enclosed work area for preparing the aircraft or un-installed engine, also equipment rooms and an environmentally controlled, acoustical control room for test operators to work in during engine operation. The Acoustic treatment provided by the facility reduces the environmental impact on the surrounding area by reducing the sound created by running aircraft engines.
The Hush House is also capable of testing un-installed engines mounted on a movable test stand with support equipment to supply fuel and air for engine running. Engine operation and testing in line with the engine OEM requirements is controlled and monitored using a computerized system. The Test Bay is sized to allow the users aircraft to be safely installed and restrained while running the engine(s) through their full performance tests as determined by the aircraft/engine OEM to enable performance issues to be identified and corrected. Various aircraft systems can also be checked while the aircraft engine(s) are running as per the Aircraft OEM requirements.
The most recent Hush House project commissioned by Vital Link is probably the most advanced facility of it’s kind in the World. This newly designed Hush House facility provides “State of the Art” engine test capabilities for installed engine testing for the F16 and Mirage 2000-9 aircraft and for un-installed testing of the F110 engine as a “Turnkey” package. The enhanced noise suppression systems incorporated into the design provide excellent noise attenuation at any engine condition. The most advanced feature at the heart of the facility is Vital Link’s own Fully Automatic Data Acquisition System or “FADAS™”. As well as being a high speed, highly accurate engine data capture and control system, the system also includes fully automated engine test capability, and provides complete facility control and self diagnosis with virtually 100% redundancy “built in”.