To insure the most effective utilization of his aviation resources, the rotary wing flight commander requires information which describes how extended flight time affects the operational capability of his flight crews. In response to this requirement, the US Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory has conducted an investigation of the man-helicopter system performance during five days of extended flight. The current report describes the changes in pilot performance and aircraft stability on one of the maneuvers performed during the large scale fatigue investigation, the stabilized three-foot (.91 meter) precision hover.The results obtained during the current examination strongly suggest the occurrence of a learning effect across the first day of extended flight. The most stable hover performance was observed during the second flight day. By the third flight day, pilots attempted to maintain high quality precision hovers through an increase in the number of control inputs. Results obtained on the fourth day of flight suggest that the pilots have shifted their control technique from active control of the helicopter to a more passive strategy of responding to observed error.

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BtrOMt COMPLKTIWG POI 1. RCClPlCNFlCATALOONUMMil 1. MC^OMT NUMBER llNTLASSTFTKn MCUMTY CUMWFICATIOW or THIS PA9UWkm Oau 20. Con'td. the rankings concerning the areas mentioned above. It was determined that all experience levels were in high agreement with regard to their opinions concerning the frequency with which they used the various monitoring gauges and flight displays while hovering, climbing, cruising, and descending in both IFR and VFR conditions. The flight displays thought to be most often used were the airspeed indicator followed by the altimeter. For the monitoring gauges, engine RPM and the gas producer were ranked 1 and 2 respectively for frequency of use. IA, UNCLASSIFIED UCUNITV CLASSIFICATION OF THIS FAGCOAM DM« Bnl»n4) SUMMARY Subjective rcsponsis werf acquired from r>4 Army aviators concerning the UH-1 instrument panel. The aviator subjects were drawn fron three experience levels: student, "tacticket," and fully instrument rated pilots. They were asked to rank instruments with regard to frequency of use, order of preference, reliability and readability. The instnments were divided into flight displays and monitoring gauges. Ranks were requested for various profiles and flight conditions. Data analyses examined the amount of agreement between experience levels as well as the rankings concerning the areas mentioned above. It was determined that all experience levels were in high agreement with regard to their opinions concerning the frequency with which they used the various monitoring gauges and flight displays while hovering, climbing, cruising, and descending in both IFR and VFR conditions. The flight displays thought to be most often used were the airspeed indicator followed by the altimeter. For the monitoring gauges, engine RIW and the gas producer were ranked 1 and 2 respectively for frequency of use.

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