LOW-GRAVITY FLIGHT DIRECTOR FOR FREE-FLOATING EXPERIMENTS: DC-9 TESTING

Free-Float experiment packages in aircraft lowgravity trajectories have previously had short and variable free-float duration. A flight director has been shown to improve both. Aircraft parameter identification, pilot modeling, and modern control synthesis were used to design the flight director. A sophisticated experimental setup was used to verify the approach. The technology developed is available for implementation in current and future aircraft engaged in low-gravity research.