• Provide real piloting tasks and real-world motion and visual cues allowing unsurpassed fidelity which is vital in the evaluation of flying qualities, flight control, and pilot-vehicle interface technologies.
• Give the evaluation pilot a faithful representation of the motion and visual cues of the simulated aircraft, in the real-environment and without the motion or visual cues limitations that exist in ground simulators.
• Flight safety is ensured by automatic limit monitoring systems
• The safety pilot retains backup control of the aircraft at all times.
• Most of the aircraft programs of the US Air Force, US Navy, NASA and many non US programs have used the IFS flight control system and handling qualities evaluation.
• FRG test pilots have provided independent evaluation on many of these programs.
• All of Calspan operated airborne simulators can be operated in the simulation mode all the way to touch down and in formation with other aircraft including tankers.

History of In-Flight Simulation Handout

USAF NC-131 Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS)	USAF NF-16 Variable Stability In-Flight Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA)
Variable Stability Learjet 24	Variable Stability Learjet 25
Calspan-Operated In-Flight Simulators

• The USAF recommends airborne simulation as one step in its "best-practices" in flight control development.
• Are ideally suited and specifically configured for research and development.
• Are fully-instrumented and the flight control, display, and pilot-vehicle interfaces are quickly modified, allowing in-flight variations and experimental control of test conditions
• The evaluation pilot can concentrate on the task or experiment conditions without having to consciously or subconsciously being concerned about safety of flight.
• Provide a freedom in research and development flight testing which critical in developing proven and flight-ready technologies.

• Airborne Systems Test & Evaluation can be performed in any of the airborne test vehicles operated by Calspan:
• USAF Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS) NC-131H (Convair 580)
• USAF Variable Stability In-Flight Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA) NF-16D
• Learjet Model 24
• Learjet Model 25
• All of these aircraft are capable of carrying customer-supplied equipment, which can be tested in the airborne real-world environment, without needing to be tied to primary safety-of-flight systems.
• In each of these aircraft, experimental or prototype equipment can be safely operated by the evaluation pilot or systems operators who are separated from the primary flight control and systems of the base aircraft. All standard aircraft power and data busses are available.
• Safety pilots monitor systems and aircraft operation, and can take over with normal aircraft controls and systems with a touch of a systems disengage button.
• The TIFS and Learjets have aft-cabin crew stations which can be configured for systems operators who can actually fly the aircraft while operating and evaluating the systems under test.
• Calspan IFS Representative Programs:

Martin Marietta Smart Weapons System Avionics and Systems Test & Training Aircraft (ASTTA) configuration of TIFS NASA Synthetic Vision Systems Helmet-Mounted Display (HMD) Voice Recognition System (VRS)

Synthetic Terrain Evaluation at Asheville, NC

• The flight control system test and evaluation capabilities of Calspan's Flight Research Group include:
• ground simulation evaluations of control laws using simple open loop linear aerodynamic models
• complete 6 degree of freedom IFS evaluations of nonlinear control systems with higher-order actuator models
• nonlinear aerodynamic models (using table-lookups)
• nonlinear equations of motion and
• higher order sensor models.
• At any point in the control system design process, from initial concept to flight test evaluations, Calspan is experienced in thoroughly evaluating control systems against real world effects.
• These evaluations uncover problems that left can save designers significant amounts of R&D expenses.
  

  A Calspan Learjet is being used as a "surrogate" unmanned air vehicle (UAV) in the USAF Research Laboratory's Automated Aerial Refueling (AAR) Program.

• Each of Calspan's aircraft have indigenous ground simulation capabilities which are extremely useful for:
• the checkout of flight systems
• mission rehearsal and
• pilot familiarization in the differences between flight and ground simulation.

• Calspan's FRG has a long history of association with the:
• United States Navy (USN)
• the United States Air Force (USAF) and
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the development and advancement of pilot-vehicle interface technologies, particularly Head-Up Displays (HUDs) and Helmet-Mounted Displays (HMDs)
• Beginning in the late 1970s, the USN funded the FRG to modify the USAF NT-33A aircraft to include a programmable HUD. After this modification, the FRG performed several research and development flight test programs for the USAF and USN evaluating the benefits of the HUD for:
• instrument flight
• quantifying performance and workload benefits of different display formats and
• evaluating several critical design issues necessary to design a HUD

USAF NT33A IFS Aircraft