In-Flight Simulation of Minimum Longitudinal Stability for Large Delta- Wing Transports in Landing Approach and Touchdown. Volume 1. Technical Results

TLDR: An in-flight simulation to investigate minimum longitudinal stability for large delta-wing transports in landing approach and touchdown (including ground effect) was conducted using the USAF/Calspan Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS) airplane as discussed by the authors.

Abstract: : TRANSPORT PLANES), APPROACH, FLIGHT SIMULATORS, STABILITY, INSTRUMENT FLIGHT, PILOTS, REACTION(PSYCHOLOGY), AVIATION SAFETY, GROUND EFFECT*LONGITUDINAL STABILITY, TOUCHDOWN, EVALUATIONAn in-flight simulation to investigate minimum longitudinal stability for large delta-wing transports in landing approach and touchdown (including ground effect) was conducted using the USAF/Calspan Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS) airplane. Aerodynamic, inertial and control data for this class of airplane were obtained from a prototype Concorde package supplied by the FAA. The simulation program involved the examination of 20 configurations by four evaluation pilots. The configurations evaluated were based upon a systematic variation of the longitudinal stability characteristics for this class of airplane. These variations were designed to examine the influence of pitch stiffness, backsideness, pitch damping and nonlinear pitching moment effects on pilot acceptability of minimum longitudinal stability for the landing approach task. A total of 61 evaluations was performed.