Perception Model Analysis of Flight Simulator Motion for a Decrab Maneuver

In this flight simulator study, eleven pilots rated their motion perception during a series of decrab maneuvers of a twin-engine passenger aircraft. Simulator yaw, sway, and roll motion were varied independently to examine their relative contribution to the pilots’ judgments. In one set of conditions, the washout algorithms were bypassed so as to reproduce unfiltered aircraft motion. This was compared with washout-filtered motion in another set of conditions. Moreover, the effect of visual cues was studied by testing the unfiltered motion cues, once with simulated outside view, and once without outside view. The results show that perceived alignment motion primarily depended on simulator sway and roll motion, and also visually induced motion. Simulator yaw was poorly recognized and was masked by simulator sway. Interestingly, unfiltered sway motion was perceived as too strong, even though the simulator workspace required downscaling to 70% of the actual aircraft motion. Finally, the subjective data were used to validate our pilot perception model. Although the model did not yet account for the observed interaction between sway and yaw motion, the model output showed good correspondence with the experimental pilot magnitude ratings. The subjective data will be used to further optimize the model parameters to allow for quantitative analysis of the effectiveness of ground-based motion cues.