ARISTOTEL · AIRCRAFT and ROTORCRAFT PILOT COUPLINGS – TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR ALLEVIATION and DETECTION

The ARISTOTEL project challenge is ensuring aircraft safety and aims to reduce the aircraft and rotorcraft accidents caused by a particularly unfavourable category of phenomena: aircraft-pilot-couplings and rotorcraft-pilot-couplings (A/RPCs). Generally, A/RPCs are defined as “inadvertent, sustained aircraft oscillations which are a consequence of an abnormal joint enterprise between the aircraft and the pilot”. Recent experiences show that modern designs are being confronted in an increasing degree with dangerous A/RPCs. The reason for this is that modern aircraft feature a significant level of automation in their flight-control-systems (FCS). FCS is generally intended to relieve pilot workload and allow operations in degraded weather and visibility conditions. Especially in the modern rotorcraft, there seem to be embedded tendencies predisposing the FCS system towards dangerous RPCs. As the level of automation is likely to increase in future designs, extending to smaller aircraft and to different kinds of operation, the consequences of the pilot ‘fighting’ the FCS system and inducing A/RPCs needs to be eradicated. It is the goal of this project to develop the design tools and techniques needed to detect and alleviate the A/RPC problems. End products of the project will be: 1) Advanced vehicle-pilot-FCS simulation models for “rigid body” and aeroservoelastic A/RPC analysis; 2) A/RPC design guidelines and criteria; 3) protocols and guidelines for A/RPC flight simulator training. All results will be directly useable by the aerospace industry in the design process for improving flight safety. The project will contribute in this sense to: 1) the minimization of the factors that lead to pilot loss of control resulting in increased enhancement of the European aircraft safety and 2) will strengthen the European Aeronautics Industry competitiveness in their time- and cost-effective design tools.