Evaluation of relationship between the activity of upper limb and the piloting precision

Abstract

Flying an aircraft requires a significant degree of coordination of upper and lower limbs. Such movements tend to be rather uncoordinated in the case of inexperienced pilots which results in inaccurate piloting. The aim of this study is to prove or disprove the dependence of the upper limb activity in relation to the aircraft steering during various actions which are required for precise maneuvering. We also deal with the design of a method to determine the degree of correlation between the movement of the hand and the airplane. The study was conducted on 8 subjects with the same level of experience during 11 hours of flight training on the simulator of type TRD40 and aircraft of type DA40. Subjects performed 14 maneuvers in total. Between takeoff and landing a recurring cycle of four maneuvers has been carried out by the subjects. Repeated maneuvers were in the order from the straight-and-level flight, horizontal turn by 360°, ascend turn by 180°, and descent turn by 180°. Recorded data except for basic flight data (magnetic course, banked and altitude) have been variables depicting the activity of the pilot's upper limb. The activity was measured using triaxial accelerometer located on the dorsal side of the distal end of the forearm. The correlation coefficient proved relationship between the upper limb movement and aircraft steering both at bank and altitude. It testifies that change of bank and altitude of aircraft is directly connected with upper limb movements. Resultant activity standard deviation relation correlation coefficient is 0.7.