Designing The Conceptual Flight Deck for a Short Haul Civil Transport/Civil Tiltrotor 951997

A short haul civil transport (SHCT) tiltrotor is a VSTOL transport type aircraft with performance equivalent to that of a medium performance transport turboprop aircraft having the additional unique capability to land and takeoff vertically (Figure 1). SHCT flight deck (or crew system design) has as its end requirement, the implementation of those systems required to operate a functional, commercially viable, short haul civil transport (SHCT) in the national and international airspace systems.

Short haul transport flight deck/crew systems design and integration must consider the mission requirements, unique aerodynamic characteristics and performance requirements and capabilities (flight profiles) of the aircraft to be used. The SHCT must demonstrate capabilities such as the ability to use narrowly defined but obstacle rich CTR navigation corridors, provide rapid reconfiguration from airplane to helicopter (vertical flight VSTOL) modes, and execute steep/slow approaches to a hover or near-hover rolling vertical landing. It must address the career origin of proposed flight crew members and answer questions raised by learning and habit transfer of flight crews assigned to fly the aircraft, whether from the rotary winged (helicopter) or fixed wing (commuter/regional) communities.

Electronic flight information system displays and controls must provide for intuitive systems analysis and efficient aircraft operation, increasing rather decreasing the situational awareness.

The design of the flight deck has and will, wherever possible and sensible, make use of existing, proven concepts and designs, building on the experience and intelligence of others. It is definitely not “business as usual.” We are not going to “reinvent the wheel,” but at least change its shape and function.