INVESTIGATION OF THE CONCEPT OF DIRECT FLIGHT CONTROL

Abstract
A system which provides direct and independent control of flight path speed, heading, and angle with the horizon was synthesized and evaluated in an analog computer simulation. Performance by subjects whose piloting experience varied from zero flight hours to four thousand flight hours was compared using direct control and conventional control systems. Two primary results were obtained: first, the performance of a subject with no flight experience using direct control was equal or superior to the performance of a subject of 4,000 hours experience using conventional controls, performance being measured in terms of mean square deviation from a proscribed flight path; second, performance improvement varied inversely with pilot experience. The resulting control scheme utilized closed-loop devices with emphasis placed on simplicity and reliability.

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