Technical Evaluation Report On The Flight Mechanics Panel Symposium On Stability And Control

This report evaluates the AGARD Flight Mechanics Panel Symposium on Stability and Control held from 25-28 September 1978 at Ottawa, Canada. The primary conclusions of the report are that the technology exists to permit application of CCV and active control concepts to operational aircraft; however, questions remain concerning the operational need and the cost effectiveness of many of the concepts that are technically feasible. The main factors impeding implementation of CCV and active control concepts are cost, reliability and maintainability.

Flight in turbulence impacts the operation of all classes of aircraft. Turbulence affects aircraft design and operations in many ways. The aircraft's structure must be designed to handle loads induced by large discrete gusts as well as the spectrum of loadings which occur throughout the life of the aircraft. Operations in rough air affect passenger comfort as well as the control of the aircraft, either manually or through automatic systems. Thus flight in turbulence requires an interdisciplinary approach to determine the true inputs to the aircraft, the development of means to include these inputs in the structural design and the control system design, and the establishment of operational procedures to minimize the effects of turbulence on ride quality and safety.

In May 1989 the Flight Mechanics Panel of AGARD organised Symposium on Flight in Adverse Environmental Conditions (the Conference Proceedings of this Symposium are published as AGARD CP 470) Four aspects of adverse environmental conditions of interest to the flight mechanics specialists were addressed by this symposium: atmospheric disturbances, reduced visibility, icing and electromagnetic disturbances. All four of these can seriously affect flight safety, comfort and operational capability. This topic was and still is considered to be particularly relevant to the needs of military community which is putting increased emphasis on the ability of today's and tomorrow's aircraft to fly safely and effectively in the types of adverse conditions dealt with in this symposium.