FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1143.PDF
23 April 1954 509 The section of the apparently complicated mechanical computor of the AT110 which co-ordinates control movements and instrument reactions. based during instrument flight on physical sensation of air craft attitude. The pilot is always taught to ignore physical sensations in blind flying, yet, when he is momentarily occu pied with some control in the cabin, physical sensation is a major factor in giving warning of initial change in attitude. This is particularly true in the case of engine failure in a twin. As soon as an engine fails, the pilot must close throttle, feather the airscrew, switch off petrol, ignition and boost- pump. While he is thus engaged, the aircraft is naturally yawing and rolling towards the dead engine. In a fixed-base trainer, there is no sensation of roll to warn the pilot when the aircraft is excessively displaced from the level attitude. In a moving-base machine of the AT100 type, these sensations are produced by the actual roll of the machine, and instinctive corrective action corresponds more closely to that which would be taken in an actual aeroplane. The foregoing machines, except the AT30, are all of the electro-mechanical moving type. We come now to a very ingenious simulator, the ATI 10, which has been designed with the intention of producing a relatively cheap and simple twin- or four-engined simulator for general airline-pilot training. It has a fixed base and "flies" very well indeed. The major innovation in the ATI 10 is the fact that its com putor is almost entirely mechanical and pneumatic. The great number of "black boxes" required in the average com prehensive electronic simulator are usually ranged in formid able batteries, and often require a whole room to themselves. The same section of the ATI 10 is simply screwed on to a panel about 7ft high and 20ft long. At first sight, it is a bewildering maze of levers, pulleys, vacuum lines and steel tapes. Yet there is hardly any electrical apparatus in sight— merely a few small motors and a number of contacts. The "engines" are simple mechanical units, identical and placed next to each other in a corner of the panel. If required, more engines can be added by simply fitting additional engine units. Control movements are transmitted by cables and tapes to a series of mechanical computors which correlate and balance the various inter-acting factors to produce the correct instru- The cockpit of the AT30 electronic, fixed-base Meteor simulator, showing the two additional rows of instruments at the top of the panel. ment indications, either mechanically or by autosyn. The actual control column loading is applied by bellows behind the instrument panel, and no major mechanical stresses are transmitted to the computors. Nearly all linkages are by steel tape, which can be easily fitted and adjusted, and just as easily renewed if necessary. Once one has got over the initial surprise of seeing this machinery, one realizes that it would be relatively simple to learn to maintain it. The mechanical parts, should they fail, are perfectly easy to replace, and the type of maintenance required would be well within the capabilities of a mechanic and electrician. This, of course, has tremendous advan tages for the prospective operator, who must always consider the maintenance of an inherently complicated device like a simulator. We made a short trial of this machine also and were impressed by its flying qualities. Its performance is based approximately on that of the Convair 240, and the wind screen panels, though of simple wood and frosted glass, are so shaped as to give an excellent impression of an air craft of this type. The mechanical computor has imposed practically no limitations on the number and type of characteristics which it simulates. Control loads vary with speed; full engine-starting procedure can be practised; all the standard failures can be fed in, with the appropriate results; and, last but not least, the noise simulation is excellent. The realism of the ATI 10 is perhaps the best we have found in any of the number of trainers we have sampled. While flying the machine, after having started up, taken-off and climbed to a few thousand feet, we were subjected quite unexpectedly to a number of problems; the starboard engine ran rough, and had to be cared for. Rough air was turned on and, finally, an engine was unexpectedly cut. It was while we were coping as quickly as possible with the unfamiliar engine controls that the aircraft became almost inverted in a steep dive before we were aware of it. Here, the lack of any physical warning of attitude-change makes itself felt, but it has this advantage: the pilot must concentrate visually on his flying instruments and cannot but ignore physical sensations. He is thus taught quite firmly the
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
