Response of airline pilots to variations in flight simulator motion algorithms

The use of physical motion in flight simulation is still a much debated topic. This paper investigates the more narrow issue of its application in commercial jet transport simulators. We have attempted to quantify the perceptions of airline pilots about the quality of motion possible when a number of different motion-drive algorithms are tested on a simulator employing a state-of-the-art six-degrees-of-freedom motion-base. Four broad categories of algorithms were tested: classical washout, optimal control, coordinated adaptive, and no-motion. It was found that although there was little impact of algorithm type on performance arid control activity, there was a definite effect on how the pilots perceived the simulation environment. Based on these findings, it appears that the coordinated adaptive algorithm is generally preferred by the pilots over the other algorithms tested, there was almost unanimous dislike of the no-motion case.