Safety device for landing in crosswind

• US 10,640,201 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2018
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Norikazu Takenaka
• Original Assignee: Norikazu Takenaka
• Inventors: Takenaka, Norikazu
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Hara, Brian M
• Application Number:
  US15/953,498
• Publication Number:
  US 20190031326A1
• Time in Patent Office: 750 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 25/50 Steerable undercarriages; Shimmy-damping
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 25/505 Shimmy damping
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 9/7034 Leveling
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0083 to help an aircraft pilot in the rolling phase
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0204 to counteract a sudden perturbation, e.g. cross-wind, gust

Abstract

To provide a safety device that, when a crosswind is present, allows an aircraft to more safely land on a runway in an airport. This safety device 10 for landing in a crosswind is designed for landing of an aircraft 1 on a runway 3 in a crosswind across the runway 3, and provided with a control unit 14 for controlling, when the nose cone 1T of the fuselage 8 of the aircraft 1 is directed windward, the orientation of the wheels of the aircraft 1 such that the wheels are oriented in the direction of travel of the aircraft 1.

Claims

1. A safety device for landing in a crosswind, the safety device being designed for an aircraft landing in a crosswind blowing across a runway and comprising:

a control unit having an automatic mode in which when a nose cone of an aircraft fuselage is directed windward, an orientation of wheels is automatically controlled such that a nose landing wheel and main landing wheels, which constitute the wheels, are oriented in a direction of travel of the aircraft;

a tilt detecting unit that, when the nose cone of the aircraft fuselage is directed windward, detects tilt of the aircraft fuselage with respect to the direction of travel of the aircraft; and

a touchdown sensor which detects the aircraft landing in the crosswind,

wherein after landing on the runway, the control unit is configured to shift from the automatic mode to a taxi mode in which the nose landing wheel can be manually steered while the main landing wheels are continuously oriented in the direction of travel of the aircraft by automatically controlling the orientation of the wheels,

the control unit is configured to control the orientation of the wheels on the basis of the tilt detecting unit such that the wheels are oriented in the direction of travel of the aircraft, and

the control unit is configured to switch from the automatic mode to the taxi mode only when the touchdown sensor detects the aircraft landing in the crosswind.

2. The safety device for landing in a crosswind according to claim 1, further comprising:

a direction detecting unit for determining the direction of travel of the aircraft on the basis of a change over time in positional information obtained from a GPS provided in the aircraft fuselage, wherein

the tilt detecting unit is configured to determine the tilt as an angle formed between the orientation of the aircraft fuselage determined by a gyro sensor provided in the aircraft fuselage and the direction of travel of the aircraft.