Motion fidelity during a simulated takeoff

In this psychophysical study, seven airline pilots reported on their perceived self-motion in response to variations of motion filter gains during a simulated takeoff. Each pilot participated both as pilot flying and pilot non-flying. In order to vary the gains of the simulated linear acceleration and the rotation independently, a "direct pitch" filter was used. Simulator pitch tilt was applied to simulate the low-pass filtered linear acceleration, whereas unfiltered pitch motion was used to simulate the rotation. The study took place in a four degrees-of-freedom research flight simulator. Subjective data showed that the perception of longitudinal acceleration was determined by the tiltcoordination. On average, pilots flying preferred larger tilt-coordination gains than pilots non-flying. Motion perception during rotation depended completely on the simulator pitch rate, which also determined the perceived attitude in the subsequent climb. No interactions were found between the effects of the tilt-coordination and the rotation. Objective simulator data showed that the aircraft control improved with increasing gain of the simulated rotation. We conclude that during the simulation of the takeoff maneuver of transport aircraft high gains (≥ 0.75) for the tilt coordination and rotation filters should be applied to support pilot's perception and control behavior. © 2003 by TNO Human Factors, Soesterberg, the Netherlands.