Air-to-Ground A-4 Tracking Accuracy.
Abstract
The report describes in-flight measurements of the air-to-ground tracking accuracy of Navy pilots in an A-4 aircraft. Two entry maneuvers, roll-ahead and roll-in to a 45-degree dive, were used. The pilots were required to continuously track the center complex of a dummy SAM site for about 10 seconds during the dive. During selected passes, the gunsight reticle was electronically deflected either 17 or 60 milliradians (mils) in azimuth, and the pilot was required to replace it on the target by changing the aircraft flight path. The type of entry maneuver did not affect tracking accuracy, although the roll-in took 6 seconds longer to complete than the roll-ahead (32 versus 26 seconds). The root mean square radial error in tracking was between 5 and 6 mils over all passes. Radial error was 15 ils or less throughout 95% of the tracking time in all passes. Azimuth tracking accuracy subsequent to replacing the reticle on the target was not affected by the reticle deflection. A deflection of 60 mils produced a 2- to 3-mil larger elevation tracking error, however. The time to 'get back on target' was 3.1 seconds for the 17-mil deflection and 5.3 seconds for the 60-mil deflection. There was no statistically significant correlation between pilots' flight experience and their tracking performance, or between their subjective rating of their performance and their actual perfomance. Tracking accuracy was found to be as well summarized by sampling eight times per second as by sampling 16 times per second. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1970
- Accession Number
- AD0877309
Entities
People
- Alice E. Bolstad
- George A. Brugnoli
- Ronald A. Erickson
Organizations
- Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake