Preliminary Investigation of Handling Qualities Requirements for Helicopter Instrument Flight During Decelerating Approach Maneuvers and Overshoot

摘要

A preliminary flight investigation was carried out to highlight deficiencies of helicopters handling qualities when performing low speed instrument approaches. Steep decelerating microwave landing system approaches to a decision height of 50 feet, simultaneously decelerating to 20 knots, were performed in the NAE Airborne Simulator, a variable-stability Bell 205A helicopter. Tracking performance, in terms of height, azimuth and speed errors was of an acceptable standard, but pilot workload was extremely high, especially during the overshoot phase. Benefits of different levels of control system augmentation were not readily apparent in this high workload environment. A follow-on program is proposed where further attempts will be made to determine the effects of display and control sophistication on pilot workload during slow speed helicopter instrument procedures.