Development of Criteria and Methods for Evaluating Trainer Aircraft Effectiveness

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Development of Criteria and Methods for Evaluating Trainer Aircraft Effectiveness

J. B. Kusewitt

The scope of the study was limited to training of pilots for fleet fighter and attack type aircraft. The fundamental problem which had to be solved was to establish quantitative time-difficulty (complexity) relationships, especially those pertaining to trainer aircraft phasing. The method developed in the study for the measurement of training difficulty and its several components, including task and aircraft components, has been given the name of Time Demand. The concept is predicated on calculating indices of difficulty (complexity) for the various training situations based on the ratio of time required to the time available. The method was applied at the individual subtask - incremental time level employing human time and deviation distribution terms, aircraft motion terms, and task parameters. The study also draws a number of conclusions with respect to the nature of flight training, the relative contribution of aircraft and task to the training situation, simulator training, discrete vs continuous components, accident causes, transfer of training, and other facets of the flight training problem. (Author)