A Theoretical Basis for Predicting Pilot Performance, Workload, and Handling Qualities

Abstract

The Cooper-Harper (CH) scale provides a structured approach to assessing handling qualities. In this scale the term ‘pilot compensation’ is a key discriminator, but its definition, as offered by Cooper and Harper, is difficult to quantify. Research on estimating Handling Qualities Rating (HQR) from flight data typically searched for pilot-vehicle performance measures that correlate with the CH ratings. The approach presented in this work estimates HQRs by establishing baseline compensation levels for a given task using rate and acceleration command dynamics. These are generated by the Spare Capacity OPerator Estimator (SCOPE), which estimates workload using a model of pilot neuromuscular feedback and a cost function that captures pilot behavior. Using the baseline compensation levels and the original definitions found in the CH scale, quantitative values from SCOPE are mapped to the CH descriptors ‘compensation’ and ‘controllability’. The proposed approach allows designers to predict task performance, as well as diagnostic and prognostic HQR capability. As a training aid, the graphic and haptic outputs of a flight simulator could be driven by SCOPE and enable evaluation pilots to experience the visual and tactile feedback corresponding to the full range of CH rating associated with any operational or handling qualities evaluation task. SCOPE’s performance and HQR estimates for a high-fidelity piloted simulation pitch sum-of-sines task and pitch attitude capture-and hold task compared very favorably with the performance and HQRs collected from the evaluation test pilot.