Helicopter Flight Dynamics, 3rd Edition

6Flying Qualities: Objective Assessment and Criteria Development

The Canadian NRC variable stability (fly‐by‐wire) Bell 205 during a handling qualities evaluation near Ottawa

(Photograph from the author's collection)

Experience has shown that a large percentage, perhaps as much as 65%, of the life‐cycle cost of an aircraft is committed during the early design and definition phases of a new development program. It is clear, furthermore, that the handling qualities of military helicopters are also largely committed in these early definition phases and, with them, much of the mission capability of the vehicle. For these reasons, sound design standards are of paramount importance both in achieving desired performance and avoiding unnecessary program cost. ADS‐33 provides this sound guidance in areas of flying qualities, and the authority of the new standards is anchored in a unique base of advanced simulation studies and in‐flight validation studies, developed under the TTCP collaboration.

(From the TTCP Achievement Award, Handling Qualities Requirements for Military Rotorcraft, 1994)¹

6.1 General Introduction to Flying Qualities

In Chapter 2, the Introductory¹Tour of this book, we described an incident that occurred in the early days of helicopter flying qualities testing at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) (Ref. 6.1). An S‐51 helicopter was being flown to determine the ...