Aircraft Autoflight Systems Theory

AKD20503
AUTOFLIGHT SYSTEM
Prepared By: Nor Aina Musa

THEORY OF FLIGHT
(Fixed Wing)

Content:
• Forces on the aircraft
• Stability –dihedral, sweptback, keel effect and weight distribution
• Control Axis
• Primary control surfaces – operation and effect on the aircraft
• Secondary controls surfaces
• Functions of tabs- Trim, balance and servo.
• Forces during turns. Coordinated turns, slip and skid in a turn.
• High speed buffet and stall conditions
• Auto-pilot control axis and wing levellers
• Versine generation and application
• Turbulence penetration and the effect an autopilot

Upon completion of this subject, students should be able to:
• Explain the forces acting on the aircraft.
• Explain and relate the stability and it effect on dihedral, sweptback, keel
effect and weight distribution on aircraft.
• Explain aircraft control axis and it primary and secondary control
surfaces operation and identify it effect.
• Explain the functions of trim, balance and servo tabs.
• Compare the forces acting on aircraft during turn.
• Define high speed buffet and stall conditions
• Define autoflight control axis and single axis wing levellers
• Define versine generation and application.
• Define turbulence penetration and the effect an autopilot

Introduction
• Automatic Flight Control Systems (AFCS) relieve the human pilot and other
members of the flight crew of the tedious duty of keeping the aircraft on
course for periods of many hours.
• The Autoflight system automatically controls:
– Airplane heading, Track, Speed, Altitude, Attitude, Navigation paths and
Go-around.
• Early Autoflight System just control the aircraft in a single-axis. It usually
operates the ailerons only and is often referred to as a wing leveler.
• Today in the invent of digital computer and advance system which can
control all aircraft phase of flight is introduced. This system is called 'Flight
Management System'

Forces on the aircraft
• There are 4 force acting on aircraft that is Lift, Weight (Gravity), Thrust and
Drag.
– Lift
Oppose the downward force of weight, produced by the dynamic effect
of air acting on airfoil. Act perpendicular to the flight path through the
Center of Lift (CL). Most of the lift created by the airfoil can be
attributed to Bernoulli's Principle. The amount of lift is in a direct
relationship with the speed of the airplane. As it increases speed, the
amount of lift acting upon it increases. Lift can also be manipulated by
increasing or decreasing the angle of attack but, if the angle of attack is
increased to much the aircraft will stall.

Weight
– The combine load of the aircraft. It pulled the aircraft down due to
gravity. Oppose lift and act downward through aircraft Center of
Gravity (CG)
Drag
– Oppose trust and act rearward parallel to the relative wind. Caused by
the wing, fuselage and other protruding objects. There are two kinds of
drag, inducing drag and parasite drag. Inducing drag is caused by the
development of lift while Parasite drag is the result of all of the un-
aerodynamic features of the airplane.

- Trust
Oppose drag. It is a forward force produced by the powerplant /propeller
or rotor.

STABILITY
Basic concepts of stability
• The flight paths and attitudes in which an airplane can fly are limited only
by the aerodynamic characteristics of the airplane, its propulsive system,
and its structural strength.
• These limitations indicate the maximum performance in term of
controllability and maneuverability of the airplane.
• It must be safely controllable to the limits without exceeding the pilot’s
strength or requiring exceptional flying ability.
• If an airplane is to fly straight and level along any flight path condition, the
forces acting on it must be in static equilibrium.
• The reaction of any body when its equilibrium is disturbed is referred to as
stability.
• There are two types of stability. Static and Dynamic.
Static
• The following definitions apply:
• Equilibrium—All opposing forces acting on the airplane are balanced; (i.e.,
steady, unaccelerated flight conditions).
• Static Stability—The initial tendency that the airplane displays after its
equilibrium is disturbed.
• Positive Static Stability—The initial tendency of the airplane to return to the
original state of equilibrium after being disturbed. (move-return)
• Negative Static Stability—The initial tendency of the airplane to continue
away from the original state of equilibrium after being disturbed. (move-continue)
• Neutral Static Stability—The initial tendency of the airplane to remain in a
new condition after its equilibrium has been disturbed. (move-stop)

Static stability
• It is defined as the initial tendency that the airplane displays after being
disturbed from its equilibrium condition.
• Stability of an airplane in flight is slightly more complex because the airplane is
free to move in any direction and must be controllable in pitch, roll, and yaw.
• When designing the airplane, engineers must compromise between stability,
maneuverability, and controllability.
• The problem is compounded because of the airplane’s three-axis of movement.
• Too much stability is detrimental to maneuverability, and similarly, not enough
stability is detrimental to controllability.

Type of static stability

Dynamic stability
• Dynamic stability refer to aircraft response over time after its equilibrium is
disturbed.
• Three type of dynamic stability are:-
• Positive Dynamic Stability— Over time, the motion of the displace object
decreases in amplitude and return to the original state of equilibrium.
(displace-slowly stop)
• Negative Dynamic Stability— Over time, the motion of the displace object
increases. (displace-increase)
• Neutral Dynamic Stability— Once displaced, the displace object neither
decrease or increase in amplitude. (displace-maintain)

A – Positive Dynamic Stability
B – Neutral Dynamic Stability
C – Negative Dynamic Stability

Amber - Positive Dynamic Stability
Green - Neutral Dynamic Stability
Red - Negative Dynamic Stability
Longitudinal stability (pitching)
• Longitudinal stability about the lateral axis is considered to be the most
affected by certain variables in various flight conditions of an airplane.
• Longitudinal stability makes an airplane stable about its lateral axis. It
cause the pitching of the airplane’s nose up and down in flight.
• A longitudinally unstable airplane has a tendency to dive or climb
progressively into a very steep dive or climb, or even a stall.
• Static longitudinal stability or instability in an airplane is dependent upon
three factors:
– 1. Location of the wing with respect to the center of gravity.
– 2. Location of the horizontal tail surfaces with respect to the
center of gravity.
– 3. The area or size of the tail surfaces.

• Most aircraft are designed so that the wing’s CL is to the rear of the CG.
• This makes the aircraft “nose heavy” and requires that there be a slight
downward force on the horizontal stabilizer in order to balance the aircraft
and keep the nose from continually pitching downward.
• Compensation for this nose heaviness is provided by setting the horizontal
stabilizer at a slight negative AOA. The downward force thus produced
holds the tail down, counterbalancing the “heavy” nose.

Lateral stability (rolling)
• Stability about the airplane’s longitudinal axis, which extends from nose to
tail, is called lateral stability.
• This stabilize the lateral or rolling effect when one wing gets lower than the
wing on the opposite side of the airplane.
• Four main design factors that make an airplane stable laterally are:-
– dihedral
– keel effect
– Sweepback
– weight distribution.

Dihedral
• The wings is build with an angle of one to three degrees above

perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.
• The wings on either side of the aircraft join the fuselage to form a slight V
or angle called “dihedral.”
• The amount of dihedral is measured by the angle made by each wing
above a line parallel to the lateral axis.

Sweepback
• Sweptback wing is one in which the leading edge slopes backward.
• If an aircraft with sweepback to slip or drop a wing due to disturbance, the
low wing presents its leading edge at an angle that is perpendicular to the
relative airflow.
• As a result, the low wing acquires more lift, rises, and the aircraft is
restored to its original flight attitude.
• Sweepback also contributes to directional stability. When turbulence or
rudder application causes the aircraft to yaw to one side, the right wing
presents a longer leading edge perpendicular to the relative airflow.
• The airspeed of the right wing increases and it acquires more drag than
the left wing. The additional drag on the right wing pulls it back, turning
the aircraft back to its original path.

Keel Effect and Weight Distribution
• Aircraft always has the tendency to turn the longitudinal axis of the aircraft
into the relative wind and exerts a steadying influence on the aircraft
laterally about the longitudinal axis.
• If one wing of the aircraft dips, the fuselage weight acts like a pendulum
returning the airplane to its original attitude.
• Laterally stable aircraft are constructed so that the greater portion of the
keel area is above and behind the CG.
• So if the aircraft slips to one side, the combination of the aircraft’s weight
and the pressure of the airflow against the upper portion of the keel area
(both acting about the CG) tends to roll the aircraft back to wings-level
flight.

Vertical stability (yawing)
• Stability about the airplane’s vertical axis (the sideways moment) is called
yawing or directional stability.
• It is easily achieved by designing the airplane area of vertical fin and the sides
of the fuselage aft of the center of gravity.
• It can be seen that if exactly the same amount of surface were exposed to the
wind in front of the pivot point as behind it, the forces fore and aft would be
in balance and little or no directional movement would result.
• Similarly in an airplane, the designer must ensure positive directional stability
by making the side surface greater aft than ahead of the center of gravity.

Control Axis
• Aircraft acts on three separate axis, namely lateral axis, longitudinal axis
and vertical axis
• The three axis would enable the aircraft to be controlled when airborne
and all three axis acts from the C of G and perpendicular to each other.
• The rotating motions and the corresponding axis are:-
– Roll (wing down or up)- Longitudinal axis (wing tip to wingtip)
– Pitch (Nose up or Down)- Lateral axis (Nose to Tail)
– Yaw (Nose left or right)- Vertical axis (C of G up)
• If we consider an imaginary center-line or "longitudinal axis" from the front
to the rear of the aircraft, then a left to right twist or rotation, with one
wing up and the other down is referred to as the ROLL.
• If we consider an imaginary line from one wing tip to the other or "lateral
axis" then as the nose of the aircraft moves up or down on this axis, this
rotation is referred to as the PITCH.
• As the aircraft rotates to the left or the right around a “vertical axis", this
rotation is called the YAW.

Primary control surfaces
• The Primary control surfaces on the aircraft are:
– The two AILERONS on the two wings
– The two ELEVATORS
– The one RUDDER on the Tail
• The two Ailerons on the wings,
– if set in opposite directions, one up and the other down, control the Roll
which then affects the Heading of the aircraft.
• The two Elevators control the Pitch of the Aircraft and thus have an effect
on controlling the altitude.
• The Ailerons also control the Pitch of the aircraft when they are set in the
same direction and the ailerons thus control the changing of the altitude as
well.
• When keeping a constant altitude, adjusting the pitch also has an effect on
the aircraft Speed.
• The Rudder on the tail affects the Yaw which also has an effect on the
Heading.
• On larger aircraft, there are many more control surfaces, typically:
– An Outboard Aileron and an Inboard Aileron
– An Outboard Elevator and an Inboard Elevator
– Upper and Lower sections of the Rudder as well as others.

MD11 Control Surface

Stabilator
Stabilator is essentially a one-
piece horizontal stabilizer that
pivots from a central hinge point.
Pulling back the control column
raises the stabilator’s trailing edge
and pitches the airplane’s nose up.
• Pushing the control column forward lowers the trailing edge of the
stabilator and pitches the airplane nose down.
• Because stabilators pivot around a central hinge point, they are extremely
sensitive to control inputs and aerodynamic loads, so Antiservo tabs are
incorporated on the trailing edge to decrease sensitivity and increase the
force required to move the stabilator prevent pilot from over controlling.

• Some aircraft pivot the stabilator about its rear spar. Movement is
accomplished by use of a jackscrew mounted on the leading edge of the
stabilator.

Elevon
• Elevon - It an aircraft control surfaces that combine the functions of the
elevator (pitch control) and the aileron (roll control).
• Frequently used on tailless or aircraft without horizontal stabilizer.
• Elevons are installed on each side of the aircraft at the trailing edge of the
wing.
– When moved in the same direction (up or down) they will cause a
pitching force (nose up or nose down).
– When moved differentially, (one up, one down) they will cause a
rolling force to be applied.

Ruddervator
• Ruddervator - are an aircraft control surfaces that combine the functions
of rudder (yaw control) and elevator (pitch control).
• Normally used on a V tailed aircraft.
• Ruddervator are installed on each side of the aircraft V trailing edge tail
– When moved in the same direction (up or down) they will cause a
pitching force (nose up or nose down).
– When moved differentially, (one up, one down) they will cause a
yawing force to be applied

Secondary controls
• The secondary flight control device is used in addition to the 3 primary
control device.
• They are:
– Trimming devices – Trim Tab which is fitted to the trailing edge of one
of primary control. It is controlled separately.
– Control force reducing device - Ballance or Antiservo Tab which is fitted
to the trailing edge of one of primary control. It is move automatically
or indirectly.
– Lift control device – May consist of Flaps, Slats, Spoilers and Speed
Brake.
• Flap – Used to increase lift at slow speed during take-off and landing or
increase drag for steep rates of descent.

• Slat – Used to increase lift at high angle of attack and has a stabilizing effect
of airflow over the wing
• Spoiler – Wing mounted device which spoiling lift. They are operated
mechanically before landing to dump lift. Ground Spoiler are operated after
landing only.
• Speed Brake – are wing or fuselage mounted device. It act as an
aerodynamic brakes. Used to increase rates of descent or enable steeper
dives or improve maneuverability of high speed aircraft.
Speed brake

Trim Tabs
• Trim tab are attached to the trailing edge of
the elevator.
• Most trim tabs are manually operated by a
small, vertically mounted control wheel or
trim crank may be found in some aircraft.
• The flight deck control includes a trim tab
position indicator. Placing the trim control in
the full nose-down position moves the trim
tab to its full up position. With the trim tab up
and into the airstreams, the airflow over the
horizontal tail surface tends to force the
trailing edge of the elevator down. This causes
the tail of the airplane to move up, and the
nose to move down

Balance Tabs
• The control forces may be excessively high in some aircraft, and, in order
to decrease them, the manufacturer may use balance tabs.
• They look like trim tabs and are hinged in approximately the same places
as trim tabs.
• The difference between the two is that the balancing tab is coupled to the
control surface rod so that when the primary control surface is moved in
any direction, the tab automatically moves in the opposite direction.
• The airflow striking the tab counterbalances some of the air pressure
against the primary control surface, and enables the pilot to move more
easily and hold the control surface in position.
• If the linkage between the balance tab and the fixed surface is adjustable
from the flight deck, the tab acts as a combination trim and balance tab
that can be adjusted to any desired deflection.

Antiservo Tabs
• Antiservo tabs work in the same manner as
balance tabs except, instead of moving in the
opposite direction, they move in the same
direction as the trailing edge of the stabilator.
• In addition to decreasing the sensitivity of the
stabilator, an antiservo tab also functions as a trim
device to relieve control pressure and maintain the
stabilator in the desired position.
• The fixed end of the linkage is on the opposite side
of the surface from the horn on the tab; when the
trailing edge of the stabilator moves up, the
linkage forces the trailing edge of the tab up and
vise versa.
Ground Adjustable Tabs
• Many small aircraft have a non movable
metal trim tab on the rudder.
• This tab is bent in one direction or the
other while on the ground to apply a trim
force to the rudder.
• The correct displacement is determined by
trial and error.
• Usually, small adjustments are necessary
until the aircraft no longer skids left or right
during normal cruising flight.

Forces in turns
• If the forces acting on the airplane actually could be seen, two forces (lift
and weight) would be apparent, and if the airplane were in a bank it would
be apparent that lift did not act directly opposite to the weight, it now acts
in the direction of the bank.

• The fact that when the airplane banks, lift acts inward toward the center of the turn,
as well as upward. Thus an airplane requires a sideward force to make it turn.
• In a normal turn, this force is supplied by banking the airplane so that lift is exerted
inward as well as upward.
• The force of lift during a turn is separated into two components at right angles to
each other.
– Component, which acts vertically and opposite to the weight (gravity), is called
the “vertical component of lift.”
– Component, which acts horizontally toward the center of the turn, is called the
“horizontal component of lift,” or centripetal force. The horizontal component of
lift is the force that pulls the airplane from a straight flight path to make it turn.

• Centrifugal force is the “equal and opposite reaction” of the airplane to
the change in direction and acts equal and opposite to the horizontal
component of lift.
• This explains why, in a correctly executed turn, the force that turns the
airplane is not supplied by the rudder.
• An airplane is not steered like a boat or an automobile; in order for it to
turn, it must be banked. If the airplane is not banked, there is no force
available that will cause it to deviate from a straight flight path.
• Good directional control is based on the fact that the airplane will attempt
to turn whenever it is banked.

• Merely banking the airplane into a turn produces no change in the total
amount of lift developed.
• Since the vertical component of lift decreases as the bank angle increases,
the angle of attack must be progressively increased to produce sufficient
vertical lift to support the airplane’s weight.
• At a given airspeed, the rate at which an airplane turns depends upon the
magnitude of the horizontal component of lift. To provide a vertical
component of lift sufficient to hold altitude in a level turn, an increase in
the angle of attack is required.
• To compensate for added lift, which would result if the airspeed were
increased during a turn, the angle of attack must be decreased, or the
angle of bank increased, if a constant altitude were to be maintained.

• If the angle of bank were held constant and the angle of attack decreased, the rate
of turn would decrease. Therefore, in order to maintain a constant rate of turn as
the airspeed is increased, the angle of attack must remain constant and the angle of
bank increased.
• It must be remembered that an increase in airspeed results in an increase of the
turn radius and that centrifugal force is directly proportional to the radius of the
turn.
• In a correctly executed turn, the horizontal component of lift must be exactly equal
and opposite to the centrifugal force. Therefore, as the airspeed is increased in a
constant rate level turn, the radius of the turn increases.
• This increase in the radius of turn causes an increase in the centrifugal force, which
must be balanced by an increase in the horizontal component of lift, which can only
be increased by increasing the angle of bank.

• In a slipping turn, the airplane is not turning at the rate appropriate to the
bank being used, the airplane is banked too much for the rate of turn, so
the horizontal lift component is greater than the centrifugal force.
• Equilibrium between the horizontal lift component and centrifugal force is
reestablished either by decreasing the bank, increasing the rate of turn, or
a combination of the two changes.

• A skidding turn results from an excess of centrifugal force over the
horizontal lift component, pulling the airplane toward the outside of the
turn. The rate of turn is too great for the angle of bank. Correction of a
skidding turn thus involves a reduction in the rate of turn, an increase in
bank, or a combination of the two changes.
• To maintain a given rate of turn, the angle of bank must be varied with the
airspeed or a loss of altitude will occur unless the angle of attack is
increased sufficiently to compensate for the loss of vertical lift.

High Speed Buffet and Stall Condition
In subsonic aerodynamics, the theory of lift is based upon the forces
generated on a body and a moving gas (air) in which it is immersed.
Subsonic aerodynamic theory also assumes the effects of viscosity are
negligible, and classifies air as an ideal fluid, conforming to the principles
of ideal-fluid aerodynamics such as Bernoulli’s principle.
In reality, air is compressible and viscous. While the effects of these
properties are negligible at low speeds, compressibility effects in
particular become increasingly important as speed increases.
Compressibility is of paramount importance at speeds approaching the
speed of sound. In these speed ranges, compressibility causes a change in
the density of the air around an aircraft.

During flight, a wing produces lift by accelerating the airflow over the
upper surface. This accelerated air can, and does, reach sonic speeds even
though the aircraft itself may be flying subsonic.
At some extreme AOAs, in some aircraft, the speed of the air over the top
surface of the wing may be double the aircraft’s speed.
It is therefore entirely possible to have both supersonic and subsonic
airflow on an aircraft at the same time.
When flow velocities reach sonic speeds at some location on an aircraft
(area of maximum camber on the wing), further acceleration results in the
onset of compressibility effects such as shock wave formation, drag
increase, buffeting, stability, and control difficulties.
Subsonic flow principles are invalid at all speeds above this point.

Subsonic—Mach numbers below
0.75
Transonic—Mach numbers from
0.75 to 1.20
Supersonic—Mach numbers from
1.20 to 5.00
Hypersonic—Mach numbers above
5.00
The speed of an aircraft in which airflow over any part of the aircraft first
reaches Mach 1.0 is termed “critical Mach number” or “Mach Crit.”
Critical Mach number is the boundary between subsonic and transonic
flight and is largely dependent on the wing and airfoil design.

Critical Mach number is an important point in transonic flight.
When shock waves form on the aircraft, airflow separation followed by
buffet and aircraft control difficulties can occur.
Shock waves, buffet, and airflow separation take place above critical Mach
number.
A jet aircraft typically is most efficient when cruising at or near its critical
Mach number.
At speeds 5–10 percent above the critical Mach number, compressibility
effects begin.
Drag begins to rise sharply then buffet, trim and stability changes, and a
decrease in control surface effectiveness. This is the point of “drag
divergence.”

VMO/MMO is defined as the maximum operating limit speed.
VMO is in knots calibrated airspeed (KCAS), while MMO is in Mach number.
VMO operations at lower altitudes and deals with structural loads and flutter
MMO operations at higher altitudes and is usually more concerned with
compressibility effects and flutter.

• VMO/MMO must not be exceeded to prevents:-
– Structural problems due to dynamic pressure
or flutter.
– Degradation in aircraft control response due
to compressibility effects (e.g., Mach Tuck or
aileron reversal).
– Separated airflow due to shock waves
resulting in loss of lift or vibration and buffet.
• Any of these phenomena could prevent the pilot
from being able to adequately control the aircraft

Stalls
• An aircraft will stall when a rapid decrease in lift caused by the

separation of airflow from the wing’s surface brought on by exceeding
the critical AOA.
• People often believe an airfoil stops producing lift when it stalls, actually
it cannot generate adequate lift to sustain level flight. If it did, the aircraft
would fall to the Earth
• Since the CL increases with an increase in AOA, at some point the CL
peaks and then begins to drop off.
• This peak is called the CL-MAX. The amount of lift the wing produces
drops dramatically after exceeding the CL-MAX or Critical AOA, but it
does not completely stop producing lift.
• One symptom of an approaching stall is slow and sloppy controls.

In most straight-wing aircraft, the wing is designed to stall the wing root
first.
The wing root reaches its critical AOA first making the stall progress
outward toward the wingtip thus maintain aileron effectiveness at the
wingtips enable controllability of the aircraft.
Methods used are:-
Twisted the wing to a higher AOA at the wing root (wing washout)
Installing stall strips on the first 20–25 percent of the wing’s leading
edge.
Most aircraft are designed for the nose of the aircraft to drop during a stall,
reducing the AOA and “unstalling” the wing.
The “nose-down” tendency is due to the CL being aft of the CG. The CG
range is very important when it comes to stall recovery characteristics.

Stalling speed of a particular aircraft is not a fixed value for all flight
situations.
Aircraft always stalls at the same AOA regardless of airspeed, weight, load
factor, or density altitude.
Each aircraft has a particular AOA where the airflow separates from the
upper surface of the wing and the stall occurs.
This critical AOA varies from 16° to 20° depending on the aircraft’s design.
Each aircraft has only one specific AOA where the stall occurs.
Three flight situations in which the critical AOA can be exceeded:-
Low speed - Stall Speed (Bellow)
High speed - Mach Critical (Exceed)
Turning - Horizontal Component and Centrifugal Force

• What is the purpose of the modification above?

Autoflight control axis
• Autopilots types can be described as:
– Single-axis - usually operates the ailerons only and is often referred to
as a wing leveler
– Two-axis - ailerons and elevator only
– Three-axis - all the three control surfaces that is aileron, elevator and
rudder
• Rudder controls aircraft rotation about or around the vertical or yaw axis.
• Elevators control aircraft rotation about the lateral or pitch axis.
• Ailerons control aircraft rotation about the longitudinal or roll axis.

Basic Autoflight System
• Early Autoflight System only relief the pilot of controlling the aircraft by
holding the aircraft straight and level.
• It all depend on how many aircraft control axis it control and how large the
aircraft is.
• Now day majority of commercial aircraft is fitted with 3 axis autopilot
system or for a more advance system it is fitted with Flight Management
System.
• The Flight Management System can controlled the aircraft from takeoff
until it land with some provision of fuel saving.

Terminology Used in Autoflight System
• Authority - Is the limit placed on the demanded control signal to prevent
excessive attitude changes.
• Couple - Raw data input to the autoflight system for a particular flight path.
• Engaged - Is a switch which turn on the autoflight system or its system.
• Capture - Is the interception of radio navigation beam by the autoflight
system
• Gain - is the pre adjustment of level of feedback and output processes by
autoflight computer.
• Washout - Is the process of removing error signal from a servo loop.

Basic Autoflight System
• Basic autoflight system consist of 4 major element:-
– Sensing element - senses aircraft attitude.
– Command element - input by the pilot to the system.
– Computing element - processes input from pilot and sensor and
provide a controlled output to servomotor (ac/dc) or Hydraulic servo
valve.
– Output element - can be servomotor (ac/dc) or Hydraulic servo valve
which moved the aircraft control surfaces.

Single Axis Wing Leveler
• It a simple autopilot system which maintain the aircraft wing level.

• System component may consist of:-
– Turn Coordinator - Provide roll information to the autoflight
controller/computer
– Autoflight Controller/Computer - Act as a controller to engage the autoflight
and computer which process the input from the turn coordinator to provide an
output to the servomotor.
– Roll Servomotor - Received input from the computer to move the aileron.
• Some wing leveler will used Rate Gyro as the sensor.
• When Autopilot Engage/Disengage(AP) Button is pushed, it will engages the
autopilot basic roll (ROL) mode which functions as a wing leveler if all logic
conditions are met.
• When pressed again, will disengage the autopilot.

Versine Generation
• Versine is a trigonometric function equal to one (for unity) minus the

cosine (1 - cosine) of the angle under consideration.
• If an aircraft bank at a same air speed it will loss some of it vertical lift.
Engineers name this loss by its trigonometric function Versine.
• So whenever the aircraft banks, there will be an additional nose up signal
to the pitch channel (versine) to make up for lost lift resulting from that
particular bank angle.
• This lost of lift is referred to as Nose up Compensation or Versine.
• When an aircraft is straight and level the resolver cosine winding will have
a maximum output.

• When an aircraft bank to left with the same forward speed the lift will be lost
because it is not capable of balancing the weight of the aircraft. If not
compensated, it will begin to sink.
• The vector triangle above the right wing of the aircraft illustrates, with the dashed
line, the amount of vertical lift that has been lost.
• The hypotenuse of the triangle represents the lift applied 90 to the wings. The
vertical side of the triangle represents the vertical component of lift. The angle on
the bottom is the bank angle of 30º.
• So engineer called this loss of vertical lift as versine.
• This loss lift is a function of bank angle. It is unity minus the cosine, or versine.
• It a value represents the amount of lift which needs to be added in some manner
so that the aircraft will not lose altitude.
• The compensation is made by pitching the aircraft nose up to increase the angle of
attack, and therefore the lift on the wings.
• So autoflight system provide an additional nose up signal to the pitch channel
(versine) to make up for lost lift resulting from that particular bank angle

Turbulent penetration
• Flight in turbulent air conditions can impose varying degrees of load on
the structure of an aircraft, and although designed to withstand such
loads, it is necessary for the pilot to adjust power and speed, and to
operate the flight control system in a manner compatible with the flight
conditions.
• If an aircraft penetrates turbulent air conditions while under autopilot, the
control system will sense the turbulence as disturbances to aircraft
attitude, but in applying corrective control it is possible for additional
structural loads to be imposed
• The reason for this is that the rate of control system response tends to get
out of phase with the rate at which disturbances occur, with the result that
control response tends to become ‘stiffer’ in turbulent conditions,
therefore, it its normal to disengage the automatic flight control system
• In some systems, however, turbulence penetration may be selected as a
mode of operation such that the gain of both pitch and roll channels is
reduced thereby ‘softening’ flight control system response to turbulence

• Figure above show an aircraft autoflight control panel which cater for a turbulence
penetration.
• This TURB mode can only be selected when being in either the HDG or the go-
around mode.
• The selection of TURB reduces the AP/FD reaction speed and the bank angle limit
to 12 % and will disengaged if VOR/LOC and/or BACK COURSE modes selected.

END

Aircraft Autoflight Systems Theory

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Aircraft Autoflight Systems Theory

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AKD20503

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• The wings is build with an angle of one to three degrees above

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• An aircraft will stall when a rapid decrease in lift caused by the

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• It a simple autopilot system which maintain the aircraft wing level.

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