Piloted Simulator Evaluation of Maneuvering Envelope Information for Flight Crew Awareness

This paper discusses the implementation and evaluation of an efficient method for estimating safe aircraft maneuvering envelopes. A Bayesian approach is used to produce a deterministic algorithm for estimating aerodynamic system parameters from existing noisy sensor measurements, which are then used to estimate the trim envelope through efficient high-fidelity model-based computations of attainable equilibrium sets. The safe maneuverability limitations are extended beyond the trim envelope through a robust reachability analysis derived from an optimal control formulation. The trim and maneuvering envelope limits are then conveyed to pilots through three axes on the primary flight display. These display features were evaluated in the Advanced Concepts Flight Simulator at NASA Ames Research Center, as part of a larger research initiative, to investigate the impact on aircraft energy state awareness of the crew. Commercial airline crews flew multiple challenging approach and landing scenarios in a relevant environment. Results show that the additional display features have the potential to significantly improve cautiousness of the flight crew