Piloted Flight Simulation of Helicopter Recovery to the Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carrier

Watson, Neale A.; Owen, I.; White, Mark

doi:10.2514/1.c035733

Cited by 22 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 30 publications

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“…However, no significant differences were observed between pilot control techniques in both environments for a given aircraft response type. Finally, simulated flight trials were proceeded, where test pilots conducted deck landings within an operational environment including ship motions, air wakes and different weather sceneries [33]. Landing a helicopter on a ship deck during DVE conditions is stated as a challenging endeavour, especially when avialable visual cues are limited.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Piloted Simulation of Helicopter Shipboard Recovery with Visual and Control Augmentation

Mehling

Halbe

Gasparac

et al. 2021

AIAA Scitech 2021 Forum

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Shipboard launch and recovery of helicopters continue to pose operational challenges even for experienced pilots. The factors affecting pilot workload include unsteady ship motion, the influence of ship air wakes on helicopters, insufficient visual cues, and adverse weather conditions. The goal of the current research is to investigate novel visual and control augmentation techniques and evaluate their impact on pilot workload and handling qualities for shipboard recovery operations. This paper first outlines a helicopter-ship dynamic interface model developed and integrated into our existing rotorcraft simulation environment (ROSIE). It then describes a visual augmentation concept using a see-through helmet-mounted display (HMD) system for enhancing the pilot's visual cueing environment during the shipboard approach and landing tasks. Next, it describes the synthesis of robust nonlinear control laws for achieving advanced helicopter response types with predicted Level 1 handling qualities. Lastly, the paper reports the results of simulation tests of maritime mission task elements by four experimental test pilots with different levels of augmentation and under different environmental conditions. Results on navigation performance, workload indices, and handling quality ratings indicate a decreased workload and improved handling qualities to almost Level 1 with the assistance of the visual and control augmentation system. Moreover, all piltos stated a higher situational awareness while operating in degraded visual environment conditions using visual and control augmentation.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%