Is agility implicit in flying qualities?

Abstract

Over the past several years, agility has been a major research and discussion topic among aircraft pilots, tacticians, and designers. Proponents cite the utility of agility for increasing aircraft combat effectiveness.Researchers have focused on defining agility and formulating metrics to quantify it. All the players agree that agility is generally a s s o c i a t e d with t r a n s i e n t p e r f o r m a n c e , controllability, maneuverability, pointing ability, acceleration, dynamics, and good flying qualities. This paper addresses agility from the standpoint of military specifications and standards.Aircraft response characteristics are detailed and "mapped" into MIL-STD-l797A, Flying Qualities of Piloted Aircraft. Based on current literature, several "agile" responses are discussed. A mapping is then made of the agile responses into the flying qualities specification in order to determine if agility can be partially or totally specified within the framework of MIL-STD -1 7 97 A.