Towards Determining Wind Disturbance Levels For An Urban Air Mobility Aircraft Through Simulation-Based Flight Testing

Abstract

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) aircraft performance will be affected by the prevalent microscale wind disturbances within cities. These localized wind effects amplify operational risks and pose a challenge for the flight testing of UAM aircraft. One way to overcome these hindrances related to microscale wind conditions is through simulation-based flight tests. Thus, this paper proposes a simulation-based methodology to determine the level of wind disturbance for UAM aircraft by assessing the risks of trajectory deviation or the risk of degradation of Handling Quality ratings. In addition, a case study will be presented using the proposed methodology, where a lift+cruise drone, representing a UAM aircraft, performs vertical landing behind an isolated tall building. The study analyzes the deviations of the aircraft trajectory for different microscale wind conditions to provide information on the associated levels of wind disturbance.