Initially available in the early 1980's, first-generation flight simulation programs for personal computers are essentially games for aviation enthusiasts. These programs have very limited flight training value due to lack of fidelity in aircraft modeling and flight dynamics, instrument depiction and flight controls. Second-generation programs, available in the late 1980's, are the first PC programs designed for instrument flight training. However, they remain lacking in fidelity primarily due to simplified approaches to modeling aircraft, instruments and flight dynamics, as well as the lack of realistic flight controls and limited graphics resolution. For these reasons, they have not achieved wide acceptance as flight training devices. Third-generation programs are now becoming available. These simulations represent a transfer of technology from multi-million dollar simulators to PC-based systems. The increased fidelity of this approach yields the promise that, for the first time, a PC-based simulation will be acceptable to the FAA for flight training. This paper discusses the technical aspects of such a simulation system, describing the requirements for six degree-of-freedom flight dynamics, stability derivative-based aircraft modeling, high-fidelity flight controls, instrument and visual simulations, radio and spatial navigation and additional training features well suited to PC-based simulations.
Technical requirements for a third-generation PC-based instrument flight simulator
Technische Forderungen für einen PC-basierten Instrumentenflugsimulator der dritten Generation
1991
6 Seiten, 9 Quellen
Conference paper
English