Velocity Command/Position Hold: A New Flight Control Concept for Hovering VTOL Aircraft

A new flight control concept for a hovering VTOL aircraft has been developed. The main feature of this system is that deflection of a pilot's controller produces a linear velocity command with position hold when the controller is centered. Another novel feature is that horizontal commands both tilt the aircraft and deflect the thrust vector, while the position feedbacks only deflect the thrust vector. This system has been evaluated in two piloted simulations of landing a VTOL aircraft on a small ship. The pilots consistently rated this system better than three other, more conventional, control systems.