Simulating Flying Qualities at the Helicopter/Ship Dynamic Interface

Piloted simulation has a potentially major role to play in the developmeut of new requirements and technologies in support of the operations of helicopters to small ships, but has been hindered by the demanding fidelity levels required for this application. The combination of visual/motion cueing aud vehicle/environment modelling problems makes the helicopter/ship dynamic interface one of most challenging in the simulation of aerospace vehicles. Over the last few years a TTCP collaboration betweeu the US, Canada, Australia aud the UK has been directed towards the definition of fidelity levels required for various dynamic interface applications. This paper reports on a UK activity within this collaboration to use simulation to define the desirable flying qualities for future maritime helicopters. This first-of-a-kind trial on the DRA's Advanced Flight Simulator (AFS) aimed to establish a baseline set of data for rate response, or conventional, helicopter response types. Key areas examined were roll, pitch and heave response characteristics of a large helicopter recovering to a small ship, in various sea states. The paper describes the simulation set up, the trials and reports the main results with special attention to simulation fidelity issues.