Assessment of a Dynamic Motion Seat’s Body Force Cueing in the Dynamic Interface Task

One of the most challenging tasks for a naval aviator is to land a rotary wing aircraft on a ship – the dynamic interface task. In this environment, the pilot experiences challenging wind environments, often degraded visual conditions, and a landing area that is moving in response to sea state. Creating an effective and representative simulator-based testing and training environment for the dynamic interface task has also proven to be challenging. While motion platforms, dynamic seats, and other technologies offer a means to provide pilot body force cueing, the limitations of these devices can negatively impact the effectiveness of the simulated environment. In an effort to enhance the effectiveness of the simulated dynamic interface task, a dynamic motion seat was integrated into the V-22 cockpit at Manned Flight Simulator. Evaluations of nine gain sets were conducted for the seat over three dynamic interface test scenarios. Eight test pilots participated in the evaluations. The results showed that in most cases the ground speed indicated a smoother approach with motion and simulation fidelity ratings and pilot comments provide evidence that the seat does increase simulation fidelity. When effectively tuned, the body force cueing provided by the dynamic motion seat could yield pilot compensation and workload that are more representative of the flight environment, enhance the ability of the pilot to evaluate handling qualities, improve pilot situational awareness of external disturbances, and improve the simulator fidelity and realism as it relates to the dynamic interface task.