A New Flight Training Device for Modern Lightweight Gyroplanes

Abstract

Subject of this paper is the design of a training device for a modern lightweight gyroplane. A simulation model which comprises all relevant characteristics of a gyroplane and which is capable of real time simulation is developed. The gyroplane body and its rotor are considered as two individual masses. The pitch and roll stick forces are the input signals to the simulation instead of the commonly used stick deflections. Flight tests with an instrumented gyroplane of type MTOsport were conducted to estimate the unknown parameters of the simulation model and to validate it. The flight maneuvers were defined according to ICAO requirements. Simultaneously a basic training device for pilot training was built at DLR. Preliminary results whether this training device is able to improve training efficiency are shown.