Sensor-based landing aid
When Sensor-based landing aid (short SELA) is called a flight assistance system that the pilots when landing under difficult visual flight support conditions.
development
Helicopter pilots are often faced with poor visibility. In particular, brownout and whiteout landings can lead to aircraft accidents due to loss of orientation .
The SeLa system developed by ESG Elektroniksystem- und Logistik-GmbH with support from EADS and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft supports the pilot in these dangerous situations and enables a safer landing until touchdown. It consists of two cameras under the fuselage, two radar altimeters , a GPS receiver, a geomagnetic field probe and a gyro system to record the helicopter's position deviation.
So far, SeLa has primarily been developed for use in the CH53 of the German Air Force as part of the ISAF mission in Afghanistan . Use for other types of helicopters is conceivable. In 2011, the Federal Office for Defense Technology commissioned the procurement and retrofitting of a total of 26 CH-53GS / GE with SeLa. The machines are being converted by a consortium made up of Eurocopter and ESG and should be completed within four years.
system
The on-board attendant of the CH53 is supported by two underbody cameras in the helicopter's landing area. These look from the rear of the helicopter in the direction of the landing gear. The image from these cameras is available to the on-board attendant on two monitors in the rear part of the hold. The previous procedure, in which the on-board attendant lying on the open stern ramp, had to announce the last few meters to the pilot via the on-board radio before touching down, is no longer necessary.
In addition, the pilot receives a precise overview of the current position of the helicopter through a special hover symbol with a drift vector that is played in a head-mounted display (HMD for short). The HMD is a monocle for one eye that is attached directly to the helmet. The monocle can either be folded directly in front of the eye (day flight) or in front of BIV glasses (night flight).
Several systems provide the data for this symbolism:
- a GPS-based AHRS ( Attitude Heading Reference System ) system (LCR-100)
- two high-precision, dust-penetrating radar altimeters
- the optical fiber gyro system adopted from the CH-53 GA as an inertial platform
- as well as radar altimeters that were newly developed or adapted for SeLa. The altimeters are mounted next to each other and are much more precise than the radar altimeters in the cockpit.
Originally, additional radar altimeters were planned to record the real position of the helicopter in relation to the ground. However, this function is not implemented in the procured system.
Since there is no civil equivalent to this procedure, the approval of the system is considered complicated. It is assumed by the pilots that the system is therefore only approved as an "info-only system". This would mean that the helicopter crew would have to maintain visual contact with the ground. SeLa is therefore only used for support.
Endangered use
The installation in the test sample should have taken place in autumn 2012. After a near-crash of a CH-53 in 2005 near Rustaq ( Afghanistan ) the development of this system was initiated. However, since the conversion did not begin until 2011 and is expected to take around four years, the system may not be available in many machines until after the planned withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014.
Individual evidence
- ^ ESG at the 49th Paris Air Show. In: esg.de. Retrieved November 30, 2012 .
- ↑ a b Procedure for pilot support during landings of helicopters in visual flight under brown-out or white-out conditions. In: European Patent Office. Retrieved November 30, 2012 .
- ↑ Sensor-assisted landing aid for helicopters. (No longer available online.) In: fhr.fraunhofer.de. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014 ; Retrieved November 30, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c Sensor-based landing aid ordered for the CH-53GS / GE. In: Flugrevue.de. Retrieved February 8, 2013 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Series equipment SELA under contract and more from this week. (No longer available online.) In: ch53blog.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012 ; Retrieved November 30, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ A quiet week. (No longer available online.) In: ch53blog.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012 ; Retrieved November 30, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
