Closed-loop, pilot/vehicle analysis of the approach and landing task

Optimal-control-theoretic modeling and frequency-domain analysis is the methodology proposed to analytically evaluate the handling qualities of higher-order manually controlled dynamic systems. Fundamental to the methodology is evaluating the interplay between pilot workload and closed-loop pilot /vehicle performance and stability robustness. The model-based metric for pilot workload is the required pilot phase compensation. Pilot/vehicle performance and loop stability is then evaluated using frequency-domain techniques. When these techniques were applied to the flight-test data for thirty-two highly-augmented fighter configurations, strong correlation was obtained between the analytical and experimental results.