The application of fly-by-wire techniques to helicopters allows for a number of advanced control schemes that can be used to enhance performance and safety. An experiment has been carried out in a manned helicopter simulator to evaluate the possibility of making use of such a system to allow the pilot to retain control over the helicopter following catastrophic failure of the lateral cyclic primary control. It was demonstrated that a pilot can switch to pedals as the lateral control input provided that the tail rotor is controlled by an autopilot mode. It was found that for a modest range of system characteristics all 5 test pilots were able to make the transition to pedal control and continue the mission. As expected, the HQR assigned during the evaluation process were sensitive to pedal gain, with ratings degrading as gains were increased or decreased away from the optimal region. The pilots were also sensitive to the fadeout and fadein times employed in the transition to pedal control. In cases where the pedals were not in use to control yaw before the transition (because the tail rotor was under autopilot control) it was found that the pilots preferred to have short fade times. In cases where the pedals were in use before transition the effect of fade times was less pronounced.


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    Title :

    An investigation of primary flight control failure in a piloted helicopter


    Additional title:

    Untersuchung eines Ausfalles der Flugleitsteuerung in einem bemannten Hubschrauber


    Contributors:
    Gibbard, S.R. (author) / Reid, L.D. (author)


    Publication date :

    1996


    Size :

    12 Seiten, 10 Bilder, 3 Tabellen, 10 Quellen



    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English





    An Investigation of Primary Flight Control Failure in a Piloted Helicopter

    Gibbard, S. R. / Reid, L. D. / Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development; Flight Vehicle Integration Panel | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1997