Use of the Vertical Motion Simulator in Support of the American Airlines Flight 587 Accident Investigation

As part of the investigation of the accident involving American Airlines Flight 587, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), in cooperation with NASA Ames Research Center, proposed to conduct observations and tests using the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS). The investigation was divided into two phases. Phase I consisted of evaluating the accelerations experienced during the accident event by back-driving the cockpit controls, displays, out-the-window scene, cockpit communications, and motion of the aircraft as recorded and derived from the aircraft’s flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR). Phase II consisted of evaluating the effects of flight control characteristics and accelerations similar to those experienced during the accident event on pilot perception and performance using a tracking task. The tracking task consisted of pilots following an on-screen target with various flight control configurations, with both motion off and motion being back-driven using derived acceleration data from the FDR. This paper describes the work provided by the VMS in support of the investigation and does not include any conclusions drawn from the study.