Maximum survival capability of an aircraft in a severe windshear (Q1078529)

This paper is concerned with guidance strategies and piloting techniques which ensure near-optimum performance and maximum survival capability in a severe windshear. The take-off problem is considered with reference to flight in a vertical plane. In addition to the horizontal shear, the presence of a downdraft is assumed. First, six particular guidance schemes are considered, namely: constant alpha guidance; maximum alpha guidance; constant velocity guidance; constant absolute path inclination guidance; constant rate of climb guidance; and constant pitch guidance. Among these, it is concluded that the best one is the constant pitch guidance. Next, in an effort to improve over the constant pitch guidance, three additional trajectories are considered: the optimal trajectory, the gamma guidance trajectory, and the simplified gamma guidance trajectory, which is the limiting case of the gamma guidance trajectory in a severe windshear and which does not require precise information on the windshear and the downdraft. The essence of the simplified gamma guidance trajectory is that it yields a quick transition to horizontal flight. Comparative numerical experiments show that the survival capability of the simplified gamma guidance trajectory is superior to that of the constant pitch trajectory and is close to that of the optimal trajectory. Next, with reference to the simplified gamma guidance trajectory, the effect of the feedback gain coefficient is studied. It is shown that larger values of the gain coefficient improve the survival capability in a severe windshear; however, excessive values of the gain coefficient are undesirable, because they result in larger altitude oscillations and lower average altitute. Finally, with reference to the simplified gamma guidance trajectory, the effect of time delays is studied.