Dynamics Modeling and Simulation of Large Transport Airplanes in Upset Conditions

Abstract

As part of NASA's Aviation Safety and Security Program, research has been in progress to develop aerodynamic modeling methods for simulations that accurately predict the flight dynamics characteristics of large transport airplanes in upset conditions. The motivation for this research stems from the recognition that simulation is a vital tool for addressing loss-of-control accidents, including applications to pilot training, accident reconstruction, and advanced control system analysis. The ultimate goal of this effort is to contribute to the reduction of the fatal accident rate due to loss-of-control. Research activities have involved accident analyses, wind tunnel testing, and piloted simulation. Results have shown that significant improvements in simulation fidelity for upset conditions, compared to current training simulations, can be achieved using state-of-the-art wind tunnel testing and aerodynamic modeling methods. This paper provides a summary of research completed to date and includes discussion on key technical results, lessons learned, and future research needs.

Upset Simulation and Training Initiatives for U.S. Navy Commercial Derived Aircraft

“…The original crew training flight dynamics model was enhanced based on wind tunnel measurements to accurately represent the flight dynamic characteristic of a transport airplane at stall and post-stall flight conditions. This simulation model is described in detail in references [2][3][4][5].…”

“…The development of the updated stall model was reported in ref. 2 and included validation based on flight test data.…”

“…This research along with recent commercial airline training initiatives has resulted in improved understanding of simulator-based training requirements and simulator model fidelity. [2][3][4][5] In addition, in-flight training research over the past decade has produced a database of pilot performance and recurrency metrics 6 .…”

Expanding Airstar capability for flight research in an existing avionics design

“…The Airborne Subscale Transport Aircraft Research (AirSTAR) project is part of NASA's Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) and is a UAS platform for the testing of experimental flight control laws and other vehicle dynamics research [1] [2]. Its current incarnation provides a dynamically scaled General Transport Model (GTM) aircraft controlled via a ground-based internal pilot uplink with a supplementary external pilot for take-off, landing, and safety maneuvering purposes.…”

Upset Dynamics of an Airliner Model: A Nonlinear Bifurcation Analysis

“…The International Committee for Aviation Training in Extended Envelopes (ICATEE) [9] and the Simulation of Upset Recovery in Aviation (SUPRA) [10] programmes also focus their upset prevention and recovery work on piloted simulations. However, the majority of full flight simulators lack the necessary expanded aerodynamic envelope data [11]. Currently, recovery procedure training would require extrapolation of the aerodynamic data from the normal operating envelope and this may result in significant errors and even the mis-modelling of key features of the dynamic response.…”