Analysis of the Aircraft Carrier Landing Task, Pilot + Augmentation/Automation

Abstract The piloted/automatic aircraft carrier landing task is analyzed. The design of a robust flight control system is utilized which forms the basis of either a control augmentation system or a completely automatic carrier landing system. A pursuit model of the human pilot is developed that includes the ability to generate landing approach time histories and handling qualities predictions. The aircraft carrier environment includes ship heave motion, atmospheric turbulence and ship airwake. The proposed methodology provides a framework for the analysis of human/machine integration in flight control.