LONGITUDINAL AXIS DISPLAY REQUIREMENTS FOR HIGH SPEED CRUISE

摘要

Unwanted altitude excursions were encountered during flight testing of the XB-70 aircraft. The altitude excursions were later corrected by increasing the pitch attitude display resolution. Since the resurgence of High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) research, it is of interest to re-visit the longitudinal-axis control behavior of the XB-70 in order to develop new guidelines for future HSCT aircraft. Therefore, this research attempts to pinpoint the pilot/vehicle interactions which caused this undesirable behavior using an analytical model of the human pilot. The research results conclude that the pilot would have difficulty stabilizing the XB-70 whenever reliable pitch attitude information was not available. Specific results indicate that a resolution of less than one-half degree is needed for satisfactory altitude control during high-speed flight.