Abstract:
Previous studies using both rotorcraft and fixed-wing aircraft have indicated that providing the pilot with more intuitive physiological information can enhance task performance because of the increased level of pilot's awareness of aircraft orientation and workload required to control the aircraft. This will also be true Personal Aerial Vehicles (PAV) operating in a Personal Aerial Transportation System (PATS) because of its anticipated large user base and envisaged concept of operations. Motivated by simulator test subjects expressing discomfort during taking the current constant-deceleration landing profiles, the paper reports on progress made in the design and assessment of a "natural feeling" landing profile to guide PAV occupants from cruising flight, down an approach path, to bring the vehicle to a successful hover. The development of the new profile is motivated from the point of view that 'natural-feeling' cues are related to the physiological cues presented during a visual landing. As such, test subjects with little or no prior flight experience flew simulated approaches to a hover following limited instruction in the use of a vehicle model. It was found that the approaches were broadly similar and could be grouped into four distinct phases. Previous work in this field and tau theory phases were used to design an idealized approach profile based upon the simulation results. The paper presents the final design and discusses a number of issues that arose from the simulator testing.