Piloting changes to changing aircraft dynamics: What do pilots need to know?

An experiment was conducted to quantify the effects of changing dynamics on a subject´s ability to track a signal in order to eventually model a pilot adapting to changing aircraft dynamics. The data will be used to identify primary aircraft dynamics variables that influence changes in pilot´s response and produce a simplified pilot model that incorporates this relationship. Each run incorporated a different set of second-order aircraft dynamics representing short period transfer function pitch attitude response: damping ratio, frequency, gain, zero location, and time delay. The subject´s ability to conduct the tracking task was the greatest source of root mean square error tracking variability. As for the aircraft dynamics, the factors that affected the subjects´ ability to conduct the tracking were the time delay, frequency, and zero location. In addition to creating a simplified pilot model, the results of the experiment can be utilized in an advisory capacity. A situation awareness/prediction aid based on the pilot behavior and aircraft dynamics may help tailor pilot´s inputs more quickly so that PIO or an upset condition can be avoided.