Application of Advanced Control System and Display Technology to General Aviation

This paper reviews NASA's progress in research directed toward providing the technology necessary for the application of advanced control systems and displays to general aviation aircraft, and its plans for this effort in the future. Flight evaluations of such systems as wing levelers, fluidic autopilots, yaw dampers, and angle of attack displays have been made, and test conditions and major results of some of this work are reported. Potentially valuable systems evaluated thus far are an attitude command control system and a flight-director display. As presently configured, both are prohibitively expensive for use in general aviation, however, and efforts are under way to apply technology to the goal of reducing their cost. Perhaps the most promising development in this area is called separate-surface stability augmentation, and plans for its implementation and flight testing are described.