Evaluation of an integrated electronic instrument display for helicopter hover operations using a six-degree-of-freedom fixed-base simulation

Abstract

This report discusses the development and evaluation of an integrated electronic instrument display designed to help alleviate pilot work load and improve aircraft control during the precision hover task while flying solely by reference to instruments. The evaluation utilizes a hybrid computer system to implement a six«degree-of-freedom fixed-base simulation of the SH-2F helicopter and a graphics processor to generate the integrated instrument display. Evaluation pilots were asked to rate the integrated display sgainst conventional flight instruments after flying a simulated night over-water rescue mission. The evaluation revealed that the simulated aircraft dynamics were susceptible to pilot induced oscillations in a hover and, therefore, unsatisfactory for use as an evaluation tool. In general, the evaluation pilots considered the integrated display preferable to conventional cockpit instruments; however, further study is recommended since meaningful quantitative data were not obtained.