A FLIGHT INVESTIGATION OF STATIC STABILITY, CONTROL AUGMENTATION, AND FLIGHT DIRECTOR INFLUENCES ON HELICOPTER IFR HANDLING QUALITIES

A flight experiment was conducted using the NASA-Army V/STOLAND UH-1H variable-stability helicopter to investigate the influence of several longitudinal-static-stability, control-augmentation, and flight-director parameters on helicopter flying qualities during terminal area operations in instrument conditions. This experiment, which was part of a joint NASA/FAA program pertaining to helicopter IFR airworthiness, was designed to corroborate and extend previous ground simulation results obtained in this program. Variations examined included stable and neutral longitudinal control position gradients, rate-damping and attitude-command augmentation, and raw data versus flight-director displays. Five pilots performed a total of 53 evaluations of these parameters for a representative dual-pilot microwave-landing-system instrument approach task. Pilot rating results agreed excellently with the ground simulation data, indicating an adequate instrument capability with rate-damping augmentation and neutral statics and the need for pitch-roll attitude augmentation to achieve a satisfactory system.