- Design a display that can support haptic feedback on the side stick in communicating flight envelope boundaries to pilots. Previous research had found that pilots like haptic feedback for this, but did not always understand what the haptics were trying to tell them. A visual display was expected to improve system acceptance, as well as their performance.
- Implement the system into an advanced research simulator with an actively controlled side stick (see pictures below). Note that I didn't use the motion system for my experiment (unfortunately).
- Invite 16 Airbus pilots and let them fly your simulation. Just some numbers so you get a grasp of how extensive the experiment was:
- They flew 338 approaches into three different airports.
- Total distance flown: 5772 NM, exceeding the distance from Amsterdam to Singapore.
- 30 hours, 23 minutes and 30 seconds of actual air time (excluding training etc.).
- 79.6 GB of flight data collected (at 100 Hz).
- 434 pages of questionnaires to record subjective data (pilot opinions).
- Last but not least, use FlightGear in some form In my case we used it to provide the visuals in our simulator. Most of the pilots were rather impressed by the looks of it as well as the smoothness and fast loading times. These guys are used to flying multimillion-dollar training sims, so that's a testimony to the hard work by many of you!
I'm thrilled that, almost exactly 12 years after my first steps into the FlightGear world, I have reached a (provisional) top of climb. Thank you all for taking part in that journey! Being part of the FlightGear community has definitely paved the way. Let's see what the future brings...
Cheers,
Gijs