MANNED LOW-LEVEL TERRAIN FOLLOWING AND/OR TERRAIN AVOIDANCE FLIGHT IS A VERY DIFFICULT TASK IN LIMITED VISIBILITY OR INSTRUMENT FLIGHT CONDITIONS.

MANNED LOW-LEVEL TERRAIN FOLLOWING AND/OR TERRAIN AVOIDANCE FLIGHT IS A VERY DIFFICULT TASK IN LIMITED VISIBILITY OR INSTRUMENT FLIGHT CONDITIONS. HIGH PILOT WORKLOAD IN THIS ARENA IS CAUSED IN PART BY THE REQUIREMENT TO MANAGE A COMPLEX WEAPON SYSTEM AND IN PART BY THE DISPLAYS PROVIDED FOR ACCOMPLISHING THE TASK. IN FACT, FLIGHT BELOW SOME SET MINIMUM, MEAN SEA LEVEL ENROUTE ALTITUDE, IS SELDOM ATTEMPTEDIN INSTRUMENT CONDITIONS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS RESEARCH EFFORT ARE TO DESIGN A SET OF DISPLAY FORMATS FOR HEAD-UP AND HEAD-DOWN FLIGHT THAT WILL PERMIT GREATER PRECISION AND SAFETY IN THIS ENVIRONMENT WITH LESS PILOT CONCENTRATION AND WORKLOAD. RESEARCH WILL ADDRESS STEERING COMMANDS AND THE ADDITION OF SYMBOLOGY TO THE HUD DISPLAY TERRAIN, CLOSURE RATE AND RELATIVE ELEVATION IN A PILOT ACCEPTABLE MANNER. AN EFFORT WILL BE MADE TO INTEGRATE TERRAIN DATA AND STEERING INFORMATION ON A SINGLE HEAD-DOWN DISPLAY TO REDUCE SCANNING AND PILOT INTEGRATION REQUIREMENTS. THIS EFFORT WILL ALSO ADDRESS BASIC TF STEERING ALGORITHMS WITH A VIEW TOWARD LIMITING MAXIMUM PITCH RATE AND FREQUENCY TO MAKE THE COMMANDS MORE FLYABLE AT LOWER SET CLEARANCE PLANE LEVELS.