Aircraft Handling Qualities – Online Short Course (Starts 7 April 2025) 7 April - 30 April 2025 Online

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  • From 7–30 April 2025 (4 Weeks, 8 Classes, 16 Total Hours)
  • Every Monday and Wednesday at 1–3 p.m. ET USA (all sessions will be recorded and available for replay; course notes will be available for download)
  • This new online course provides a comprehensive overview of the design, analysis and test processes surrounding Aircraft Handling Qualities.
  • All students will receive an AIAA Certificate of Completion at the end of the course.

OVERVIEW
This course aids understanding of the balance between workload and performance when the pilot is controlling an aircraft. Basics of flight dynamics and control are covered, along with the longitudinal and lateral-directional criteria that govern handling qualities. Recent additions include more real-world lessons learned, demonstration of analysis methods, flight test approaches and suggestions for specifications, including extension to unmanned aircraft. The emphasis is still on insight into the design, analysis and test processes.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
  • Understand the basics of flight dynamics
  • Understand the effects of feedback control systems
  • Understand human-in-the-loop modeling
  • Understand the criteria for handling qualities
  • Understand pilot-Induced Oscillations
  • Lessons learned in aircraft development programs 
    [See below for full outline]
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
This course will be of interest to control engineers, aerodynamicists, avionics specialists, pilots, flight test engineers, simulation engineers and others who need some depth or appreciation of this important and challenging interface.


COURSE FEES (Sign-In To Register)
- AIAA Member Price: $895 USD
- Non-Member Price: $1095 USD
- AIAA Student Member Price: $495 USD

CLASSROOM HOURS / CEUs: 16 classroom hours / 1.6 CEU/PDH

CANCELATION POLICY: A refund less a $50.00 cancellation fee will be assessed for all cancellations made in writing prior to 5 days before the start of the event. After that time, no refunds will be provided.

CONTACT: Please contact Lisa Le or Customer Service if you have any questions about the course or group discounts (for 5+ individuals).

Outline
I. The definition and importance of flying/handling qualities and pilot opinion
II. The importance of requirements for cost-effective design and safety
III. Pilot rating scales: Cooper-Harper, PIO. Pitfalls with ratings, and their relation to safety
IV. Static stability, longitudinal axes, equations and transfer functions
V. Illustrate how dynamic derivatives are obtained
VI. Short- and long-period longitudinal modes: physical meaning, contributing factors
VII. The lateral-directional modes: spiral, roll, Dutch roll and coupling parameters
VIII. Pilot in the loop analysis
IX. Introduction to closed-loop control: advantages and pitfalls of fly-by-wire
X. Effects of control features: robustness, feedforwards, nonlinearities, good design principles
XI. Longitudinal short period and requirements
XII. Low Order Equivalent Systems: history, motivation, application, recent lessons
XIII. Other longitudinal criteria: bandwidth, Neal-Smith, RSmith, Nelson, Gibson
XIV. High-angle-of-attack criteria
XV. Conducting effective flight simulations and flight tests
XVI. Design for good handling qualities: CONDUIT
XVII. Lessons learned (from many example aircrafts)
Materials

COURSE DELIVERY AND MATERIALS

  • The course lectures will be delivered via Zoom. Access to the Zoom classroom will be provided to registrants near to the course start date.
  • All sessions will be available on-demand within 1-2 days of the lecture. Once available, you can stream the replay video anytime, 24/7.
  • All slides will be available for download after each lecture. No part of these materials may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted, unless for course participants. All rights reserved.
  • Between lectures during the course, the instructor(s) will be available via email for technical questions and comments.
Instructors
Mr. John Hodgkinson’s deep handling qualities experience includes fighter/attack aircraft and transports at British Aerospace, Northrop Grumman, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, and NASA. He has published extensively on handling qualities and is author of the only available book on the subject. Chair emeritus, AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Technical Committee. AIAA Associate Fellow.

 

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