Further Simulated Flight Trial Assessment of Novel Autorotation Cueing Methods

Autorotation maneuvers in helicopters are generally performed in an emergency following some form of catastrophic mechanical or system failure. It is a complex maneuver to perform because the pilot is required to perform several tasks simultaneously and the timing of each of them needs to be precise. Workload can be high and the consequences of getting things wrong can be fatal. Following on from a series of studies that investigated the use of symbology presented on a Head-Up Display to try to assist a helicopter pilot to fly the autorotation maneuver more safely and accurately, this paper presents a pilot-in-the-loop flight simulation study to explore the use of haptic cueing to help the pilot maintain indicated air- and main rotor speeds. Various entry conditions to autorotation maneuver are assess via simulated flight trial at Liverpool's HELIFLIGHT-R full motion flight simulator. Subjective evaluation of the results show that the haptic cues are useful to pilots in terms of reducing the workload to perform a successful autorotation landing.