Aviation Safety and Pilot Control

Adverse aircraft-pilot coupling (APC) events include a broad set of undesirable and sometimes hazardous phenomena that originate in anomalous interactions between pilots and aircraft. As civil and military aircraft technologies advance, interactions between pilots and aircraft are becoming more complex. Recent accidents and other incidents have been attributed to adverse APC in military aircraft. In addition, APC has been implicated in some civilian incidents.

This book evaluates the current state of knowledge about adverse APC and processes that may be used to eliminate it from military and commercial aircraft. It was written for technical, government, and administrative decisionmakers and their technical and administrative support staffs; key technical managers in the aircraft manufacturing and operational industries; stability and control engineers; aircraft flight control system designers; research specialists in flight control, flying qualities, human factors; and technically knowledgeable lay readers.

Table of Contents

• Front Matter
• Executive Summary
• 1 Aircraft-Pilot Coupling Problems: Definitions, Descriptions, and History
• 2 Varieties of Aircraft-Pilot Coupling Experience
• 3 Aircraft-Pilot Coupling as a Current Problem in Aviation
• 4 Precluding Adverse Aircraft-Pilot Coupling
• 5 Simulation and Analysis of the Pilot-Vehicle System
• 6 Criteria for Assessing Aircraft-Pilot Coupling Potential
• 7 Findings and Recommendations
• A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members
• B Participants in Committee Meetings
• C Details of Aircraft-Pilot Coupling Examples
• D Research
• Acronyms
• Glossary
• References
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