Pre and Post Pilot Model Analysis Compared to Experimental Simulator Results

‡In 2003, a workshop on the use of pilot models to analyze the influence of visual and vestibular motion perceptio n on a pilot’s control behavior was held. As an example, an earlier experiment on the Vertical Motion Simulator ( VMS ) at NASA Ames was used to demonstrate that a pilot model analysis could reasonably explain the trends of the experimental results. Mo re importantly, the same analysis suggested an experimental configuration that, if tested, might have changed the general conclusions found in the NASA Ames study. Useful progress in research is enhanced when new studies and analyses build upon previous st udies and analyses. A new simulator experiment built upon the NASA Ames study and also evaluated all the new conditions analyzed with the pilot model during the workshop noted above. The results roughly correspond with the analysis. Although, the utmost w as done to produce the same motion cues in the University of Toronto research flight simulator as in the VMS experiment before, differences in the experimental results were found between the results of the NASA experiment and the University of Toronto experiment. The paper reviews the initial analysis, compares the analysis results with the new results from the new experiment, and readjust s the pilot mode l analysis with the new results. † ‡ p y