Effects of Implementation Variations on the Results of Piloted Simulator Handling Qualities Evaluations

Abstract

Flying qualities predictions from ground-based simulators have proven inaccurate when compared with flight test. In many cases this has been due to the cues presented to the pilots in the simulator not matching those available in flight. Results from previous handling qualities experiments performed in the USAF Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS) and the NASA Ames Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) identified that differences in the implementations of the experiments affected the cues presented to the pilots, which it was hypothesized caused differences in the results from the two simulators. An experiment was performed in the Delft University of Technology’s SIMONA Research Simulator (SRS) to investigate the effects that the differences in an experiment’s implementation can have on the results of piloted handling qualities evaluations. The results from the SRS evaluations were compared to those from the previous evaluations of the same configurations by the same three pilots in the TIFS and VMS. The SRS results confirmed the hypothesis from the earlier experiments that the different visual cues affected the perceived pitch sensitivity of the simulated aircraft. Different touchdown cueing methods were not found to affect touchdown sink rates or pilot control technique. Motion system trips and limits, different levels of atmospheric disturbances being transmitted to the pilots, and the pilots adapting their control technique during the time interval between the experiments were all hypothesized as potential reasons for the pilots using smaller control inputs in the SRS.