Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T20:50:22.149Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Automatic Control of an Aeroplane in the Landing Approach onto an Aircraft Carrier

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2016

J. B. Helliwell
J. B. Helliwell*
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, College of Technology, Manchester
Get access

Summary

An investigation is made into the possibility of the completely automatic longitudinal control of an aircraft in the deck landing approach. The method presupposes the existence of a radio beam system transmitted from the carrier and a study is made of the motion of the aircraft down this beam under automatic control.

The longitudinal motion alone of the aircraft and carrier is considered. The motion of the carrier is assumed to consist of a steady forward velocity modified by a non-pitching sinusoidal oscillation in the vertical plane.

The most successful method of approach control proposed is based on the use of a single beam emanating from a source at a fixed distance above the carrier deck and fixed in direction. The preliminary pilot-controlled approach is assumed to be down the mean position of the beam, and the auto-control requires, over and above certain ideal variations of elevator angle and thrust, additional types of control of the following forms. On the elevator, displacement pitch and displacement track error control; and on the thrust, displacement track error control.

Information is also forthcoming regarding the unsuitability of certain other types of control which at first sight seem promising.

Type
Research Article
Information
Aeronautical Quarterly , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , February 1952 , pp. 241 - 262
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society. 1952

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Pritchard, H. C. (1946). The Problem of Blind Landings. Journal of The Royal Aeronautical Society, Vol. 50, December 1946.Google Scholar
2. Meredith, F. W. and Cooke, P. A. (1937). Aeroplane Stability and the Automatic Pilot. Journal of The Royal Aeronautical Society, June 1937.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Weiss, H. K. (1939). Theory of Automatic Control of Aeroplanes. N.A.C.A. Tech. Note 700, April 1939.Google Scholar
4. Neumark, S. (1943). The Disturbed Longitudinal Motion of an Uncontrolled Aircraft and of an Aircraft with Automatic Control. R. & M. 2078, January 1943.Google Scholar
5. Sudworth, J. and Hopkin, H. R. (1943). Influence of Automatic Pilots on Stabilisation and Dynamic Stability in Pitch. R.A.E. Tech. Note Inst. 775, July 1943.Google Scholar
6. Hopkin, H. R. (1944). A Theoretical Analysis of the Behaviour of an Automatic Control applying Elevator as a Linear Function of Aircraft Pitch Deviation from a Gyro Vertical and the Time Integral of that Deviation. R.A.E. Tech. Note Inst. 842, March 1944.Google Scholar
7. Hopkin, H. R. (1944). Stability and Stabilisation during Automatic Landing Approach. R.A.E. Tech. Memo. Inst. 114, October 1944.Google Scholar
8. Meredith|F. W. (1949). The Modern Auto-Pilot. Journal of The Royal Aeronautical Society, May 1949.Google Scholar
9. Taylor, R. G. (1949). A Generalised Theory of Automatically Controlled Aeroplanes. A.R.C. 12, 629 (S. and C. 2,333), September 1949.Google Scholar