An Analysis of the Effect of a Flight Director on Pilot Performance in a Helicopter Hovering Task

Abstract

A fixed-base simulator evaluation of a flight director for maintaining longitudinal control of a helicopter in the hover mode of operation was made. Test subjects performed ninety-second precision hovering tasks utilizing two cockpit displays. The second display differed from the first only by the addition of the flight director indicator. The helicopter and each display were simulated on a hybrid computer. The hovering task consisted of minimizing root mean square longitudinal and vertical deviation from an initial equilibrium position. Root mean square performance data and numerical pilot opinion ratings were obtained. These data indicated significant improvement in performance when the flight director was being utilized.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1976
Accession Number
ADA025680

Entities

People

  • Timothy W. Duffy

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aeronautical Engineering
  • Aircrafts
  • California
  • Computers
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Equations
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Flight
  • Helicopters
  • Hybrid Computers
  • Instrumentation
  • Navies (Foreign)
  • Simulations
  • Simulators
  • United States
  • United States Naval Academy
  • Vehicles

Readers

  • Approximation Theory.
  • Aviation Science / Aeronautics.