The investigation on flight quality of tilt-rotor aircraft

Purpose This paper aims to present an investigation on flight quality analysis and design of tilt-rotor aircraft combined with corresponding flight quality specifications. Design/methodology/approach From the perspective of modal characteristics of tilt-rotor aircraft, it focuses on the analysis of the change rules of the longitudinal short-term motion mode, lateral roll convergence mode, spiral mode and Dutch roll mode. Then, the flight quality design research is carried out using the explicit model tracking control method. The quantitative relationship between flight quality requirements and explicit model is established. Accordingly, the closed-loop flight quality of XV-15 tilt-rotor aircraft is evaluated. Findings The stability of spiral mode is the result of the interaction of various aerodynamic derivatives and spiral instability occurs in helicopter mode. The other motion modes are stable in full flight mode and meet the requirements of level 1 specified in ADS-33E-PRF and MIL-F-8785C flight quality specifications. There is a quantitative relationship between flight quality requirements and explicit model, and the flight quality of tilt-rotor aircraft is improved through the explicit model tracking control method. Practical implications The presented analysis results showed the influence of motion modes and flight quality and the effectiveness of explicit model tracking control method in flight quality improvement, which could be considered as new information for further flight quality design of tilt-rotor aircraft. Originality/value The originality of the paper lies in the proposed design and analysis method of the flight quality of tilt-rotor aircraft from the direction of the influence of its aerodynamic derivatives and motion modes.