Pilot control behavior analysis using cutoff frequency and power frequency for a civil transport aircraft encountering turbulence based on flight simulation

Atmospheric turbulence is one of the leading causes of serious personal injuries in nonfatal accidents of commercial aircraft and poses a significant hazard to aircraft in the terminal area. The pilot control behavior, workload and its difference from the normal flight situation also have essential impact on flight safety when the airplane encountered turbulence. In this paper, a unique frequency domain method, which used the cutoff frequency and the power frequency as the key metrics, was utilized to analyze the pilot control behavior in turbulence environment for a civil transport aircraft based on piloted flight simulation data. The results show that the cutoff frequency and power frequency consider both the frequency of pilot activity and the level of the activity at the same time, and could be a useful tool to analyze the pilot control behavior.