A CROSSWIND LANDING ASSISTANCE SYSTEM USING STEERABLE MAIN LANDING GEAR FUNCTIONALITY

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Kurzfassung

Several crosswind-related incidents show that landing under heavy crosswind conditions can be challenging for pilots and may pose a threat to aviation or at least lead to irregularities in operations. For transport aircraft the common approach technique for crosswind landings is the so-called crabbed approach with wings-level and a windward heading correction. This technique requires alignment of the aircraft with the runway prior to touch-down in order to not exceed the maximum allowable lateral loads of the landing gear and tyres. The DLR Institute of Flight Systems developed a crosswind landing assistance system (CLAS) using a steerable main gear. During approach all gear struts are automatically aligned with the runway so that no de-crab manoeuvre is required. On ground the assistance system utilises each steerable landing gear, differen-tial braking, and the aerodynamic control surfaces to control and stabilise the aircraft. After touchdown the aircraft is automatically aligned with the runway centreline and the crab angle is slowly reduced. The CLAS was designed for a typical medium-range transport aircraft and a simulator study with pilots in the loop was conducted in order to evaluate the benefit of such an assistance system. The study revealed that not only the aircraft controllability could be improved by the system under strong crosswind conditions, but that the side forces acting on the landing gear can be reduced significantly as well. It was also shown that the CLAS is able to enlarge the spectrum of autoland operations, which is relatively tight at present in terms of maximum allowable crosswinds. All together the CLAS has shown to be able to improve flight safety, lower the risk of weather-related delays due to go-arounds or diversions, and it also reduces structural loads on the landing gear during touch-down and landing.

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• A CROSSWIND LANDING ASSISTANCE SYSTEM USING STEERABLE MAIN LANDING GEAR FUNCTIONALITY. (deposited 16 Sep 2013 15:13) [Gegenwärtig angezeigt]