A COMPARISON BETWEEN VARIOUS SIDE–ARM CONTROLLER CONFIGURATIONS IN A FLY-BY-WIRE HELICOPTER

A piloted experiment was flown in the National Aeronautical Establishment variable stability Bell 205A-1 to examine the effects on both handling qualities and pilot performance of varying control configurations when using multi axis side-stick controllers. Two types of controller were used in fully and partially integrated configurations, conventional controls were also evaluated in the same study to provide direct comparisons between the inceptor types. The flight control systems comprised rate command in pitch and roll, rate command heading hold in yaw and simple direct drive for collective. In general the data suggest that there was no clear or obvious preference for any particular inceptor or configuration. The performance analyses indicate that there was no significant change in the pilot's control capabilities as controllers or configurations were changed.