Control Inceptor Design for Onboard Piloted Transition VTOL Aircraft Considering Simplified Vehicle Operation

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-1896.vid The central element for operating or piloting an aircraft is its Human-Machine-Interface (HMI). To efficiently interact with the flight control system, the HMI and especially its control inceptors are highly adapted to the vehicle's configuration and its flight control system's degree of automation. In Urban Air Mobility (UAM) concepts, VTOL transition vehicles emerge while combining beneficial characteristics of two underlying aircraft configurations. In this paper, a HMI concept comprising novel control inceptor designs for transition VTOL aircraft, is proposed. Together with the implemented flight control system, Simplified Vehicle Operation (SVO) shall ensure intuitive and unified control behavior across the whole flight envelope. Considering future certification aspects of such a system, the actual Handling Qualities (HQ) are evaluated and compared against Minimum Acceptable Handling Qualities Rating (MAHQR) published by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). These MAHQR need to be achieved for demonstrating compliance to EASA's SC-VTOL, the regulatory framework for certification of VTOL aircraft. Pilot-in-the-Loop (PIL) experiments are conducted in a simulative environment to determine the actual HQ with Cooper-Harper Rating (CHR). A UAM example mission containing all flight phases of a transition VTOL aircraft is the PIL experiments' basis. The results show that the overall SVO concept, including flight control system and HMI, would meet the proposed MAHQR and enables also participants without classical piloting skills to operate a transition VTOL aircraft in a satisfactory manner.