PRB
October 3rd, 2010, 11:09
Full motion simulators are interesting. I'd like to know how the various axes are used. I can see how accelerating through the fore and aft axis can be “simulated” by tilting the thing pitch down and pitch up, and a non-coordinated turn can be “felt” by tilting the thing left or right. But I don't get the up and down movement. NASA evidently has a giant full motion simulator that can move vertically by three stories, but big deal, what can you “simulate” with vertical movement? Can't be Gs about the aircraft Z axis, such as is felt when turning hard. You can experience G loads by moving the thing up, but eventually it has to stop. Even the three story one at NASA has to stop at some point, and when it does stop, you will feel that as negative G. So if you were in a sustained 2 G turn for 30 seconds, there's no way the vertical motion of the thing can be used to “simulate” the G forces experienced. It would have to be 10 miles high! So what is the vertical axis of movement used to simulate? I see that big simulator going up and down, up and down... What the heck is the pilot doing in there? You could use the vertical axis to simulate turbulence, I suppose, but you wouldn't need a 50 foot tall device for that.