HANDLING CHARACTERISTICS OF A SIMULATED TWIN TILT NACELLE V/STOL AIRCRAFT

The first government-conducted piloted flight simulation of the Grumman-designed twin turbofan-powered tilt-engine V/STOL aircraft (design 698) was conducted at NASA Ames Research Center. The aircraft is discussed with an emphasis on its unique hover characteristics. These characteristics include the adverse nonminimum phase that occurs in lateral and longitudinal translation, and the large attitude control power available. Both of these features are attributes of the control vanes (a Grumman-patented concept) buried in the fan exhaust flow. The simulation used the following NASA Ames Research Center facilities: The Vertical Motion Simulator with the interchangeable cab, the Sigma 8 computer, and the Computer-Generated Image system with a four-window display.