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Meeting	ACGS Committee Meeting 98 - Williamsburg - October 2006
Agenda Location	8 SUBCOMMITTEE D - DYNAMICS, COMPUTATIONS AND ANALYSIS 8.4 A Piloted Simulator Evaluation of Transport Aircraft Rudder Pedal Force/Feel Systems
Title	A Piloted Simulator Evaluation of Transport Aircraft Rudder Pedal Force/Feel Systems
Presenter	Eric Stewart
Affiliation	NASA Langley Research Center
Available Downloads*	presentation
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Abstract	A piloted simulation study has been conducted in a fixed-base research simulator to assess the directional handling qualities for various rudder pedal feel characteristics for jet airliners. Three independent pedal feel parameters were investigated: (1) Force at maximum pedal travel, (2) Breakout Force, and (3) Pedal Travel. An artificial maneuver requiring runway tracking at an altitude of 50 feet in a crosswind was used to more fully exercise the rudder pedals. Twelve active airline pilots voluntarily participated in the study and flew approximately 500 maneuvers. The pilots rated the various rudder pedal feel characteristics using the Cooper-Harper rating scale. An equation for the Cooper-Harper pilot rating as a function of the three independent pedal feel parameters was fit to the data. The equation was then used to predict optimum parameters and produce contour plots of acceptable handling qualities. For example, for a pedal travel of +/- 2.5 inches, the optimum force at maximum pedal travel was about 80 lbs and the optimum breakout force was about 19 lbs. The peak values of the cross spectra of the pedal force and heading angle were used to quantify the tendency to directional pilot induced oscillations (PIO). Larger peak values of the cross spectra appeared to be correlated with larger (degraded) Cooper-Harper pilot ratings.