Developments in Motion Systems, Altitude vs Time, Direction vs Time, Airspeed, and Vertical Speed - Case Study Example

Introduction A flight simulator can be defined as being a device that is able to recreate artificially aircraft flight and the environment in which the aircraft is flying, this being for the purpose of training a pilot, designing or other purpose. In order for this to be achieved the equations that govern the flying of the aircraft are , the aircraft reaction to applications of flight controls, and the reaction of the aircraft to other external factors including wind shear, the density of air, wind shear, turbulence, precipitation and clouds are all replicated. Flight simulators may involve a variety of hardwares and softwares this being dependant on modeling detail and realism which is needed for the in the task in which they are to be used. There is a wide range of designs from PC based on laptop models of aircraft systems, cockpits used for initial stage familiarization up to the highly realistic simulation of flight controls, flight cockpit and aircraft systems used in pilot training that is more complete. Full Flight Simulator (FFS) is regarded as the highest level of simulation of flight used in delivering training to Commercial Air Transport (CAT), while for the case of training the military pilots a Full Mission Simulator (FMS) is regarded as the highest level. The design of FFS is done with agreement by world regulatory bodies for civil aviation regulatory authorities including FAA and EASA for USA and Europe respectively. The design will have a motion platform where the simulator cab can be staged in addition to a visual system that makes it possible for the Outside World (OTW) to be displayed. A example being the case where the international FFS Level D standard puts a requirement that the motion platform should be capable to move the simulator cab in the entire six degrees of freedom with the OTW visual system being able to give 150 x40 degrees of views to each of the pilots. For the case of military simulators there is more variation in terms of design but in majority of the aircrafts used in military transport and simulators of military helicopter simulators are associated with a design that is based on the civil FFS (Lloyd, 1979). The first flight simulation device made with the purpose of helping the pilots fly what was known as the Antoinette monoplane. For the case of Wright designs, there was use of levers to take care of pitching and rolling controls whereas for the case of Antoinette two wheels were used with one being on the left and the other on the right side of the pilot, the purpose of one of the wheel was for pitching while the other was for rolling. The pitch wheel operated in the natural sense unlike the case of the roll wheel which did not and had to wait for the invention of the centrally mounted control column or the “the joystick” or simply referred to as the stick (Popular Mechanics, 1954). In 1909 there was development of a training rig which was to aid the pilot in operating the control wheels in advance of the aircraft flying. It was composed of a seat that was mounted half way the barrel together with the two wheels. The whole unit pivoting was such that assistants outside had the ability of pitching and rolling the device in accordance to how the pilot was to use the wheels, with aid of long wooden rods linked to the barrel structure. A model of the "Antoinette Barrel Trainer" is in the foyer of the Airbus Training Centre at Toulouse, France. Developments in motion systems The link trainer design of 1929 had a motion system that had the ability to give movement in pitch, roll and yaw but its payload which basically refers to weight of replica cockpit had some limitation. For the case of flight simulators having heavier cockpits, in 1954 there was development of a system with cockpit housing being inside the metal framework, capable of providing three degrees of movements for pitching, rolling and yawing. With improvement the system was upgraded to have displacements in the tune of up to 10 degrees of freedom by 1964. With more interest in flight simulation it was established that six jacks placed appropriately could be able to yield the six degrees of freedom which are expected to be exhibited by a body that is free to move. Pitching, rolling and yawing are the three angular rotations exhibited while the linear movements are the up and down movement (heaving), side by side movement (swaying) and the fore and aft movement (surging). The six jack design platform was first used in the automotive industry in 1954 by Erick Gough with further refinement being done by Stewart in a paper he wrote in 1966 to UK Institution of Mechanical Engineers. The Stewart platform is the name given to the six jack device (Fly Away Simulation, 2010). From 1977 onwards saw simulators for Commercial Air Transport (CAT) being designed having ancillaries such as Instructor Operating Stations (IOS) and computers being linked top the motion platform along with replica cockpit as opposed to being placed off the motion platform. Many professional flight schools have training arrangement that involve the preliminary training sessions being done partially in the aircraft and other session being conducted in FNPTs and FTDs devices of relatively low cost. Emphasis is directed on instrument flying and cockpit resource management (CRM) at the point where the trainee is believed to have become familiar with some elementary aircraft handling and flight skills. Emphasis will also be placed on advanced aircraft systems with more time being allocated to in these devices being increased to a significant level. The final part which addresses needs of advanced aircraft-specific training, will involve Full Flight Simulators (FFS) this being more appropriate for Commercial Air Transport (CAT) which the trainee pilot will be expected to fly after full qualification (Popular Science Monthly, 1919). Aircraft orientation and recurrent training given to most of commercial pilots will be done in high level FTDs or FFS. Training under simulation will allow training maneuvers or situations that may not be practical or that may pause great dangers when undertaken in an aircraft, while the pilot and the instructor will be almost at no risk at the ground. Some of the situations that can be simulated without any risk being paused to the pilot and the aircraft are failure of electrical system, hydraulic system failures, instrument failures, environmental system failures and failures of flight control. Through simulation the trainees can be able to withstand training tasks at high concentration at a given time period above what is usually possible in a real aircraft. A good example is when conducting multiple training where in a real aircraft there might be need of spending a considerably long time in the repositioning of the aircraft. When this is done under simulation, the instructor is able to reposition to aircraft to the desired position where the next approach can be started, immediately after the completion of one approach. Use of simulation has economic advantage in comparison of use of actual aircraft. The cost of operation of an FSTD are found to be considerably lower than the actual aircraft being simulated after taking into account the cost of fuel, maintenance and cost of insurance. Cases involving large transport airplane categories are found to have operating costs that maybe several times lower for the FSTD as compared to the real aircraft. Engineering simulation is flight simulation which finds application by aerospace manufacturers. The simulation is important in tasks such as development and testing of flight hardware. Simulation and stimulation techniques are utilized where the later will involve feeding real hardware with real signals or signals that are artificially generated so as to be able to verify the operation. This signal may be sonar, electrical or RF these being dependant on the equipment under test. Developing and testing of flight software is also accomplished through engineering simulation. This is because of it being safer to develop critical flight software by use of simulation technique other than using the actual aircraft system. The other use of simulation is in development and testing of aircraft systems. Discussion Altitude vs. time The result of altitude with time is as can be seen in figure1. From the figure it can be observed that there was some lapse of time before the altitude started rising steadily to about 2000ft. after attaining the altitude of 2000ft the altitude was kept constant even the some form instability was exhibited. After the 2000ft altitude there is a constant increase to the peak altitude of 3165ft at a time of 622s. After the peak the altitude reduces constantly to 437 at a time of 928s. Figure appendix 1 gives the ground train in addition to the altitude (height). Figure 1 Direction verse time The change of direction with time is as can be seen in figure 2. The initial heading is seen to be around 345 as expect but the value is seen to oscillate about this value for a period of 214 s when direction suddenly changes 0 and then stabilizes at a direction in 20s and 30s degree. The direction is seen to read 0 before it shoots to above 350 and shortly stabilizes at the intended value of about 300 degrees up to time 481s when the direction start changing steadily to a value around the intended heading of 210 degrees where the heading is retained up a time 620s. The heading is then reduced steadily to at a time about 680s the heading reaches the target of about 120 even though the values show oscillation. After 762s the heading starts increasing steadily towards the intended heading of 165 where the value is finally attained at time 816s. the heading oscillated about this value up to the end at time 928s. Figure 2 Airspeed The result of airspeed with time is as shown in the figure. From the figure the airspeed is seen to initially to increase steadily to a high value of about 90 knots at time 60s. The airspeed appears to fluctuate constantly in some incidences going slightly beyond 100knots. Figure 3 Vertical speed The vertical speed as can be seen from the figure appears to show the highest fluctuation. The vertical sped in some instances sometimes is seen to go beyond 1000ft/min. Figure 4 Conclusion From the experiment it can be seen that the results of the simulation generally conformed to flight path that was to be followed by there is some variation. In order to be able to follow the path closely the student need to attend more training session. It can also be concluded that flight simulation is a reliable way of ensuring that there are well trained pilots at reasonably low cost and with minimal accident during the training session. References Fly Away Simulation, (2010). Flight Simulator Technology Through the Years. . Lloyd K. ( 1979). The Pilot Maker. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Popular Mechanics (1954). Airline Pilots Fly Anywhere in the world - Without Leaving the Ground. Popular Science Monthly (1919). Dry Shooting for Airplane Gunners. Appendix Read More