UH-60 Black Hawk disturbance rejection study for hover/low speed handling qualities criteria and turbulence modeling

Abstract

Helicopters operate in an environment where task performance can easily be affected by atmospheric turbulence. This paper discusses the airborne flight test of the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in turbulent conditions to determine disturbance rejection criteria and to develop a low speed turbulence model for helicopter simulation. A simple approach to modeling the aircraft response to turbulence is described by using an identified model of the Black Hawk to extract representative control inputs that replicate the aircraft response to disturbances. This parametric turbulence model is designed to be scaled for varying levels of turbulence and utilized in ground or in-flight simulation. Flight control cutoff frequency data are also analyzed to support design criteria for gust rejection handling qualities