Some university experiences of aircraft simulator research

Extract

My department's involvement in flight simulation started in the early 1960s under Professor Stephens. At that time, and even more so subsequently, what I think is an unusually high proportion of our staff had previous experience either as pilots, or in flight testing. Since 1965 we have operated our own light aircraft, primarily for flight test work at undergraduate level. In addition our links with the University Air Squadron are strong and the number of our students who are members is also exceptional. Every project described here, apart from one, was done by a pilot, or ex-pilot.

Our first project, for a PhD, was somewhat exploratory in nature, consisting as it did of three largely unrelated investigations. The first of these, suggested by two accidents involving aircraft on ground controlled approaches (GCA), was tackled using a fixed-base simulator consisting of a spring-loaded pitch control and throttle, and the usual flight instruments, all under a hood. I should explain that the GCA, particularly favoured by the military as an approach technique, consists of precision ground radar giving information of azimuth and elevation relative to the desired line of approach, to a ground controller. The ground controller then passes instructions to the pilot such as: ‘You are 30 ft below the glidepath. Adjust your rate of descent and turn left three degrees.’