SAFETY DEVICE FOR LANDING IN CROSSWIND

• US 20190031326A1
• Filed: 04/16/2018
• Published: 01/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Norikazu Takenaka
• Original Assignee: Norikazu Takenaka
• Inventors: TAKENAKA, Norikazu
• Granted Patent: US 10,640,201 B2
• Time in Patent Office: 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 the runway and comprising a control unit having an automatic mode in which when a nose cone of an aircraft fuselage is directed windward, the orientation of wheels is automatically controlled such that a nose landing gear and main landing gears, which constitute the wheels, are oriented in the direction of travel of the aircraft,

wherein the control unit shifts, after landing on the runway, the mode to a taxi mode in which the nose landing gear of the wheel can be manually steered while the main landing gears of the wheels are continuously oriented in the direction of travel of the aircraft by automatically controlling the orientation of the wheels.

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

wherein the safety device for landing in a crosswind comprises a tilt detecting unit that, when the nose cone of the aircraft fuselage is directed windward, detects tilt of the fuselage with respect to the direction of travel of the aircraft, and

the control unit controls 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.

3. The safety device for landing in a crosswind according to claim 2,

wherein the tilt detecting unit determines the tilt as an angle formed between the orientation of the fuselage determined by a gyro sensor provided in the aircraft fuselage and the direction of travel of the aircraft, and

the safety device for landing in a crosswind comprises 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.