Practices to identify and preclude adverse Aircraft-and-Rotorcraft-Pilot Couplings – A design perspective

Abstract

Abstract:The aviation community relies heavily on flight simulators as a fundamental tool for research, pilot training and development of any new aircraft design. The goal of the present 1 Corresponding author Tel. +31 15-2785374, E-mail Address m.d.pavel@tudelft.nl 2 paper is to provide a review on how effective ground simulation is as an assessment tool for unmasking adverse Aircraft-and-Rotorcraft Pilot Couplings (APC/RPC). Although it is generally believed that simulators are not reliable in revealing the existence of A/RPC tendencies, the paper demonstrates that a proper selection of high-gain tasks combined with appropriate motion and visual cueing can reveal negative features of a particular aircraft that may lead to A/RPC. The paper discusses new methods for real-time A/RPC detection that can be used as a tool for unmasking adverse A/RPC. Although flight simulators will not achieve the level of reality of in-flight testing, exposing A/RPC tendencies in the simulator may be the only convenient safe place to evaluate the wide range of conditions that could produce hazardous A/RPC events.

Practises to identify and prevent adverse aircraft-and-rotorcraft-pilot couplings—A ground simulator perspective

“…Fig. 3 shows the research simulators used in the European project ARISTOTEL -Aircraft and Rotorcraft Pilot Couplings-Tools and Techniques for Alleviation and Detection-(2010-2013) [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. The results from this project form the bulk of the remainder of this 1 The full flight simulators (FFS) can be divided in four levels of fidelity: (1) Level A -A motion system is required with at least three degrees of freedom.…”

“…The ARISTOTEL project -Aircraft and Rotorcraft Pilot Couplings -Tools and Techniques for Alleviation and Detection (2010)(2011)(2012)(2013) in Europe performed a series of simulator test campaigns to understand and advance the state-of-the-art in the prediction of A/ RPC phenomena using flight simulators (in relation to both biodynamic and active pilot in the loop testing) [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. The goal of the present paper is to review the findings of the ARISTOTEL project, specifically in relation to ground-based simulator testing to unmask A/RPCs.…”

Analysis of Pilot-Induced-Oscillation and Pilot Vehicle System Stability Using UAS Flight Experiments

“…Modification of boundary is necessary by utilization of large number of flights. Reference [27] provides another case study where existing boundaries were modified for better PIO predictions.…”

Multibody dynamics analysis of the human upper body for rotorcraft–pilot interaction

“…Pilots' and passengers' bodies are, therefore, generally subject to a significant vibratory excitation during flight, with twofold consequences: on the one side, both pilots and passengers can feel discomfort and, in severe cases, also suffer healthrelated issues [18][19][20]; on the other hand, in the case of pilots, discomfort is also associated with a degradation in the efficiency in performing a task. Furthermore, their upper body biomechanical response is transmitted to the command inceptors, a phenomenon that goes under the name of biodynamic feedthrough [35,36,38].…”