Simulating any way the wind blows to aid helicopter training

One of the most important applications for helicopters is search and rescue missions at sea, in the mountains and in cities. However, these are also among the most difficult places to fly, because the landscape, tall buildings and offshore installations like oil rigs add to unpredictable and severe changes in wind speed and direction, and such turbulence can throw helicopters off balance and lead to crashes. Helicopter specialists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are now working to improve flight simulators so that they can help pilots prepare for such conditions.

Current helicopter simulators follow a rigid pattern when simulating air movement, explains Juergen Rauleder, TUM's Chair of Helicopter Technology: "That means that local variations and changing conditions are not taken into account – unless the entire airflow environment is known in advance." But it is precisely these changing conditions that cause problems; for example, a moving ship will create turbulence in its wake, with the unpredictability increased by wave conditions and the way the downdraught from helicopter rotors interacts with the deck and superstructure. Similar interactions, for example with mountain slopes and the walls of skyscrapers, cause problems in cities and mountain regions. "Until now flight simulators have not adequately reflected the reality of flying close proximity to large objects," Rauleder said.