Object-oriented landing gear model in a PC-based flight simulator

Abstract

Training pilots the skill of maneuvering an aircraft on ground is important for flight safety. This demands a detailed landing gear model running in real-time. We developed the model and verified its validity by contrast with flight test data. It is accurate sufficiently and very suitable for real-time flight simulation to represent complex ground reaction behavior under various conditions and occasions. Based on this model, we realized a landing gear class in a unified flight simulation framework written in C++ and successfully applied the whole simulation codes through S-function in a PC-based experimental flight simulator. Because of the unique features of object-oriented design principles, the software framework presented here is structural, transplantable and convenient to maintain. The constitution and the quality of the simulator reveal that it would have cause to decrease the cost for developing a flight simulator with higher fidelity in future.