In-Flight Investigation of the Influence of Pitch Damping and Pitch Control Effectiveness on Landing Approach Flying Qualities of Statically Unstable Transport Aircraft

摘要

A in-flight simulator was used to investigate the flying qualities of statically unstable transport aircraft. The numerical values of pitch damping and pitch control effectiveness were varied in combination with a constant amount of instability. Over 70 landing approaches were flown by 3 pilots evaluating 5 configurations. Pilot ratings on the basis of the Cooper-Harper scale and a special effort rating scale and statistical values of measured performance data are presented. Decreasing the pitch damping in combination with an unchanged amount of instability leads to unacceptable flying qualities due to extreme difficulties with pitch attitude tracking. High values of pitch control effectiveness make the aircraft oversensitive and are not accepted by the pilots. An increase in turbulence intensity aggravates the influence of pitch damping reduction and control effectiveness increase on the flying qualities.