The Accuracy of the Flight Derivative Estimates Derived from Flight Data

The accuracy of estimated stability and control derivatives of a light aircraft from flight test data were evaluated. The light aircraft, named ChangGong-91, is the first certified aircraft from the Korean government. The output error method, which is a maximum likelihood estimation technique and considers measurement noise only, was used to analyze the aircraft responses measures. The multi-step control inputs were applied in order to excite the short period mode for the longitudinal and Dutch-roll mode for the lateral-directional motion. The estimated stability/control derivatives of Chan Gong-91 were analyzed for the assessment of handling qualities comparing them with those of similar aircraft. The accuracy of the flight derivative estimates derived from flight test measurement was examined in engineering judgment, scatter and Cramer-Rao bound, which turned out to be satisfactory with minor defects..




References:
[1] R. E. Maine and K. W. Iliff, The Theory and Practice of Estimating the Accuracy of Dynamic Flight-Determined Coefficients, NASA Ref. Publ.
1077, July, 1981.
[2] R. E. Maine and K. W. Iliff, Use of Cramer-Rao Bounds on Flight Data with Colored Residuals, J. of Guidance and Control, vol. 4, No. 2,
Mar-Apr. 1981.
[3] E. A. Morelli and V. Klein, Accuracy of Aerodynamic Model Parameters
Estimated from Flight Test Data, J. of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 20, No. 1, 1997.
[4] E. A. Morelli, High accuracy evaluation of the finite Fourier Transform
using sampled Data, NASA Technical Memorandum 110340, June, 1997.
[5] J. Lee, A Study on the Aerodynamic Parameter Estimation and Simulation
of a Light Airplane via Flight Test, Ph. D Thesis, Hankuk Aviation
University, 2000.
[6] "Jane's All the World's Aircraft Annual, " edited by Paul Jackson,
1993-1994.
[7] J. Lee and S Yoon, Estimation and Validation of Lateral-Directional
Stability/Control Derivatives for the Flight Training Device of a Light
Airplane, Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, vol. 16, Jan. 2008.
[8] J. Lee and S Yoon, Application of Parameter Estimation to FTD for a
Light Airplane via Flight Tests, Simulation Modelling Practice and
Theory, vol. 15, March 2007.
[9] R. E. Maine and K. W. Iliff, Application of Parameter Estimation to
Aircraft Stability and Control - The Output-Error Approach, NASA
Reference Publication. 1168, 1986.
[10] O. Cho et al., Wind Tunnel Test of ChangGong-91 Model, Inha
University, 1990.
[11] W. T. Suit, Aerodynamic Parameters of the Navion Airplane Extracted from Flight Data, NASA TN D-6643, 1972.
[12] F. O. Smetana, Compute Assisted Analysis of Aircraft- Performance Stability and Control, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1983.