STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF RESULTS OBTAINED FROM A COMPUTER SIMULATION OF LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT TRAJECTORIES.

The problem of deriving an analytic expression which would relate low flying aircraft trajectories to terrain cross-section has not been solved. A computer simulation has been devised which generates synthetic flight paths which are coupled to a terrain input and are dependent on the values of five input parameters. Simulations have been generated which best match a series of actual test flights. The input parameters which generated the best fit to actual flights are examined to determine their statistical properties. Tests of hypotheses are conducted to determine goodness of fit and equality of means and variances among parameter sets related to specific terrains and speeds. A sampling procedure is suggested whereby a random series of flights might be generated over an arbitrary terrain cross-section subject to speed restrictions. (Author)