ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to familiarize flight control system designers with the latest concepts and criteria that have been implemented into, or are planned for, the handling-qualities specifications. It presents these concepts and criteria in the context of functional requirements for the flight control system. The use of the handling-qualities specification as a source of functional requirements for the flight control system is rarely, if ever, carried out in practice. Active control technology (ACT) has become the basis for the flight control system design on many new commercial and military aircraft. The quantitative specification criteria should be used as functional requirements for the design of the flight control system. An understanding of the strengths, weaknesses and idiosyncrasies of each Response-Type is essential for a successful design of the flight control system. Moderate-amplitude maneuvering has become more important for aircraft that employ ACT flight control systems, because actuator rate limiting tends to occur during such maneuvers.
