Control studies. Part A : some experience with side controllers

摘要

With the X-15 airplane, the pilot will be subjected to longitudinal accelerations as large as about 5g. There is some question as to whether or not a pilot will be able to control the airplane by using a conventional control stick when he is subjected to accelerations of this magnitude. In order to alleviate the acceleration effect, it is planned with the X-15 airplane to use a side controller and to restrain the pilot's arm through use of an armrest. Some problems are anticipated with the use of a side controller. Aside from the different location, which may affect the pilot's controlling ability, the motions of a side controller will be smaller by a factor of about 3 to 6 depending upon the particular design, and thus the mechanical advantage between the stick and the control surface must be reduced. This may cause the side controller to be overly sensitive. Further, the pilot's force capabilities are small and this, together with the reduced mechanical advantage, will make the friction forces more important. Flight tests and ground-simulator studies have been made to study some of these problems and it is the purpose of this paper to present some of the results obtained. (author)