Identification of manual control behaviour to assess rotorcraft handling qualities

Flight safety has been a fundamental aspect of aircraft, and the future demand for wider usage of aerial operations leads to more focus on the flight safety. Particularly rotorcraft require high standards of flight safety due to their inherent features, such as complicated rotary mechanisms, close-to-ground operations, and complex aerodynamic...

Helicopter Roll-Axis Instabilities induced by Pilot Cyclic Control: A Physical Explanation

The main objective of this paper is to give a basic understanding of the mechanisms through which pilot cyclic inputs in lateral cyclic interacts with high-order rotor dynamics destabilizing the helicopter roll motion. The paper will use a “Newtonian formulation” representing the main forces acting on the airframe body-rotor system as the pilot...

Understanding pilot biodynamical feedthrough coupling in helicopter adverse roll axis instability via lateral cyclic feedback control

The paper reassesses the mechanism of biodynamical feedthrough coupling to helicopter body motion in lateral-roll helicopter tasks. An analytical bio-aeroelastic pilot–vehicle model is first developed and tested for various pilot’s neuromuscular adaptions in the lateral/roll axis helicopter tasks. The results demonstrate that pilot can...

Adverse rotorcraft-pilot coupling: Recent research activities in Europe

Adverse rotorcraft-pilot coupling: Prediction and suppression of rigid body RPC: Sketches from the work of Garteur HC-AG16