Simulation Evaluation of V-22 Degraded-Mode Flying Qualities

A novel approach to flying qualities testing was adopted for the V-22 Osprey. A simulation program was conducted to evaluate residual flying qualities for safe flight to landing following failures. The structure of the simulation paralleled that used for conventional flying qualities evaluations, including Mission Task Elements defined for unfailed aircraft. Pilot opinion ratings and comments were elicited for both the unfailed and degraded aircraft for ten different flying qualities tasks covering the range of normal operations. No allowance was made to the performance standards in the task to account for the effects of the failures. This approach provided one-to-one assessments of the severity of the failures on flying qualities. Philosophical challenges to the performance of the simulation are described and recommendations are made for adoption of this approach for other platforms.