Book Description

Longitudinal and lateral directional flying qualities for the re-entry mission are reported. The program utilized primarily a high-fidelity fixed-base ground simulator with evaluations made by three pilots. One of the three pilots also made in-flight evaluations of longitudinal flying qualities in the same vehicle, a threeaxis variable stability airplane flown with a two-axis side controller and conventional rubber pedals. Control sensitivity evaluations were compared to center stick results of earlier work. The longitudinal flying qualities as evaluated both on the ground simulator and in flight are compared and related to earlier investigations. Pilot rating variability, both interpilot and intrapilot, are quantized and discussed for the ground and flight experiments. Performance measures are reported.