This paper describes a set of experiments that were conducted on the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) Generic Research Aircraft Cockpit Environment (GRACE) simulator facility to determine the effects of sway, yaw, and roll motion on pilot workload, pilot compensation, motion perception and perceived motion fidelity. The aim of the experiment, as described in this paper, was to study pilot motion perception and opinion on simulator motion fidelity while actively controlling the aircraft. Fourteen pilots were asked to perform a manual decrab when the aircraft was on final approach with a 30 KTS crosswind. Platform yaw, sway, and roll motion were varied independently to examine their relative contribution to the pilots' judgements and workload. To determine possible effects of workload on the pilot's opinion on motion fidelity and perceived motion, pilots were grouped in pairs. For each simulator run, one pilot was asked to fly the aircraft while the other pilot was asked to watch the maneuver from the right seat. Both pilots answered the same questionnaire after each run. This methodology allowed the researchers to compare the pilot-non-flying results with a previous TNO/NLR study in which the pilot passively observed a decrab maneuver. Moreover, the pilot-flying and pilot-non-flying results were compared to detect any effects of workload on the pilot's opinions on perceived simulator motion. Finally, pilot-flying results were analysed to determine the effects of various platform motions on pilot workload and rating of perceived simulator fidelity and handling qualities. The results of the experiment as described in this paper will support our previous studies in the development of objective evaluation criteria for the optimisation of simulator motion cues.
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