Concept for Simplified Control of General Aviation Aircraft

In this paper, a concept is presented for a fly-by-wire (FBW) control system for general aviation aircraft. Fly-by-wire implies that the cockpit controls are not mechanically linked to aerodynamic surfaces but are used only as the commands generator for the automatic flight control system. The objective of the proposed concept for the control system is to assist pilots with limited aviation training by: 1) automatic stabilization of the aircraft's attitude, altitude, airspeed, and heading and 2) decoupling of the flight controls. Decoupling of the flight controls implies that a single cockpit control can independently control a single flight parameter. An example of this would be moving the control yoke/stick fore and aft results in a change in pitch angle without changing air speed, thus simplifying the control of the aircraft. It is in simplification of control to assist pilots with limited training that the proposed concept is particularly useful in general aviation.