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Abstract

The objective of the European research project SUPRA (Simulation of Upset Recovery in Aviation) is to develop technologies that eventually contribute to a reduction of risk of Loss of control - in flight (LOC-I) accidents, today's major cause of fatal accidents in commercial aviation. To this end the project developed novel concepts to improve groundbased simulation of upset events. Current flight simulators are considered inadequate for the simulation of many upset conditions as the flight dynamics and aerodynamic models apply only to the normal flight regimes and aircraft behavior may change significantly outside this envelope. Furthermore, standard hexapodbased motion systems are unable to reproduce the high accelerations, angular rates, and sustained G-forces inherent to upset conditions. SUPRA investigates new engineering methods to extend the aerodynamic model to higher angles of attack as well as innovative motion cueing solutions, including the use of centrifuge-based simulators. These new technologies have been evaluated by test pilots for a selection of relevant upset scenarios. It was found that the SUPRA all-envelope simulation model is representative of the airplane class being simulated within and outside the normal flight envelope as well as that improved motion cueing is possible on hexapod and centrifuge devices.