Operating an Unmanned Aerial System from a Moving Platform

While the Spatial Disorientation SD has long been recognized as an important causal factor in aviation incidents and accidents, it is only beginning to be recognized as a factor in Uninhabited Aerial Systems UASs. As a first step towards better understanding the effects of control platform motion on manual UAV control Olson, DeLauer and Fale 2006 had 10 rated Air Force pilots fly a simulated UAV task MS Flight Simulator from a motion capable control platform aircraft simulator. Participants performed two basic flight tasks - a vertical task climbdescent and a horizontal turning task. The control platform motion was varied to provide either congruent, neutral, or conflicting motion cues. The current study replicates the simulator study using an Cessna-172 aircraft as the control platform. This will allow for a more complete examination of platform motion cues since simulators cannot adequately simulate sustained motion. This study also adds a landing task to examine glide path and azimuth error. The results of this study mirror those of the previous simulator study and show a general increase in error. These results have implications for planned UAV operations from both fighter and transport aircraft.