Criteria for the Design of Helicopter Collective Controls

Abstract

The study described in this report shows that the angle at which a man's thumb rests most comfortably when operating a helicopter collective control is represented by a plane extending from the end of the collective. This comfort plane is tilted downward at an angle of 28° and rotated toward the pilot at an angle of 21°. For convenient operation all switches should be placed so that their upper surface lies on or near the surface of the Comfort Plane. A mock-up was built using the criteria from the study and received a positive evaluation by test pilots.