A PLIGHT SIMULATION STUDY OF DIFFICULTIES IN PILOTING LARGE JET TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT THROUGH SEVERE ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES

摘要

A ground based flight simulator, having motion freedoms in pitch and roll, has been used to study the difficulties of flying a representative jet transport aircraft through severe storm turbulence. Random atmospheric disturbances of RMS velocity 15 ft/sec, combined with longer term draughts in the vertical plane of up to 200 ft/sec were studied during flight on instruments.nMost pilots had surprisingly little difficulty in controlling the aircraft despite the severe conditions represented. Some, who made power and trim changes freely however, tended to set up long period oscillations in speed and flight path, similar to those which have been reported in flight.