A Study of Pilot Reaction Capability to Sound Stimulus

An experiment is described which was used to evaluate a typical pilot's ability to activate a switch in response to a sound stimulus. Regularly spaced voice countdown, irregular voice countdown, initiation of a tone, and termination of a tone were each used as the stimulus. The individual under test was given a task similar to that involved in maintaining accurate flight conditions to occupy his attention. The regular voice countdown is shown to be least accurate in defining the switching time, providing a mean delay of approximately -0.09 second (actually a stimulus anticipation) and a standard deviation of a bit more than 0.2 second. In each of the other cases, a mean delay of approximately 0.25 second and a standard deviation of approximately 0.09 second were obtained. This compares favorably with previous experimental results.     

Range Correction Computations for Weapons Dropped from Aircraft

A general set of equations is developed from which the effects of initial condition perturbations upon weapon impact point are readily evaluated. Data are presented to illustrate the accuracy with which predictions can be made. Results obtained from the actual ballistic equations, from the time-varying perturbation equations, and from a time-invariant approximation of the perturbation equations are compared. It is shown that reasonable impact point predictive accuracy can be provited for fairly large changes in initial conditions.