Method and device for aiding the control of an aircraft during a parabolic flight in order to generate weightlessness in the aircraft
First Claim
1. A method for assisting the piloting of an aircraft during a parabolic flight in order to generate weightlessness in the aircraft, the aircraft comprising a control stick capable of actuation by a pilot to alter its position and configured to act on at least one elevator of the aircraft so as to generate piloting of the aircraft on the aircraft'"'"'s pitch axis according to the position of the control stick, the method comprising a sequence of steps, carried out in an automatic and repeated manner, during a parabolic flight of the aircraft and consisting in real time in:
- a) computing a control stick command corresponding to an optimum current position of the control stick for parabolic flight;
b) determining an effective current position of the control stick; and
c) simultaneously showing, on at least one scale of control stick positions which is displayed on a screen of the cockpit;
(i) a first indicator representing the control stick command computed in step a);
(ii) a second indicator representing said effective current position of the control stick, determined in step b); and
(iii) wherein in step a) the control stick command C is computed on the basis of the following equation;
C=k0+k1*cos θ
/V+k2*sin 2θ
/V2in which;
θ
is a current angle of pitch of the aircraft;
V is a current speed of the aircraft; and
k0, k1 and k2 are predetermined constants.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and device are disclosed for aiding the control of an aircraft during a parabolic flight in order to generate weightlessness in the aircraft. The device includes a unit for automatically calculating a control stick order corresponding to a current optimum position of the control stick for carrying out a parabolic flight, a unit for automatically determining an actual position of the control stick, and a display unit for automatically displaying, on at least one scale that is displayed on a cockpit screen, simultaneously a first indicator corresponding to the control stick order and a second indicator corresponding to the actual position of the control stick.
21 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method for assisting the piloting of an aircraft during a parabolic flight in order to generate weightlessness in the aircraft, the aircraft comprising a control stick capable of actuation by a pilot to alter its position and configured to act on at least one elevator of the aircraft so as to generate piloting of the aircraft on the aircraft'"'"'s pitch axis according to the position of the control stick, the method comprising a sequence of steps, carried out in an automatic and repeated manner, during a parabolic flight of the aircraft and consisting in real time in:
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a) computing a control stick command corresponding to an optimum current position of the control stick for parabolic flight; b) determining an effective current position of the control stick; and c) simultaneously showing, on at least one scale of control stick positions which is displayed on a screen of the cockpit; (i) a first indicator representing the control stick command computed in step a); (ii) a second indicator representing said effective current position of the control stick, determined in step b); and (iii) wherein in step a) the control stick command C is computed on the basis of the following equation;
C=k0+k1*cos θ
/V+k2*sin 2θ
/V2in which; θ
is a current angle of pitch of the aircraft;V is a current speed of the aircraft; and k0, k1 and k2 are predetermined constants. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A device for assisting the piloting of an aircraft during a parabolic flight of the aircraft to generate weightlessness in the aircraft, the device comprising:
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a) a control stick capable of actuation by a pilot to alter its position and configured to act on at least one aircraft elevator so as to generate piloting of the aircraft on the aircraft pitch axis according to the position of the control stick; b) a computation unit configured for automatically computing a control stick command corresponding to an optimum current position for parabolic flight; c) a position determination unit configured to automatically determine an effective current position of the control stick; d) a display unit configured to automatically show on the at least scale of control stick positions which is displayed on a screen of the cockpit, simultaneously; (i) a first indicator representing the control stick command computed for the computation unit; and (ii) a second indicator representing the effective current position of the control stick, determined by the position determination unit; and e) wherein the computation unit is configured to automatically compute the control stick command C on the basis of the following equation;
C=k0+k1*cos θ
/V+k2*sin 2θ
/V2in which; θ
is a current angle of pitch of the aircraft;V is a current speed of the aircraft; and k0, k1 and k2 are predetermined constants. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A system for manually piloting an aircraft, the system comprising:
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a) a control stick capable of actuation by a pilot to alter its position and configured to act on at least one elevator so as to generate piloting of the aircraft on a pitch axis according to the position of the control stick; and b) a piloting assistance device for assisting the piloting of the aircraft during a parabolic flight of the aircraft to generate weightless ness in the aircraft, the device comprising; (i) a computation unit configured for automatically computing a control stick command corresponding to an optimum current position for parabolic flight; (ii) a position determination unit configured to automatically determine an effective current position of the control stick; and (iii) a display unit configured to automatically show on the at least scale of control stick positions which is displayed on a screen of the cockpit, simultaneously; a first indicator representing the control stick command computed for the computation unit; and a second indicator representing the effective current position of the control stick, determined by the position determination unit; and (iv) the computation unit being configured to automatically compute said control stick command C on the basis of the following equation;
C=k0+k1* cos θ
/V+k2* sin 2θ
/V2in which; θ
is a current angle of pitch of the aircraft;V is a current speed of the aircraft; and k0, k1 and k2 are predetermined constants.
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9. An aircraft comprising a piloting assistance device for assisting the piloting of an aircraft during a parabolic flight of the aircraft to generate weightlessness in the aircraft, the piloting assistance device comprising:
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a) a control stick capable of actuation by a pilot to alter its position and configured to act on at least one elevator so as to generate piloting of the aircraft on the pitch axis according to the position of the control stick; b) a computation unit configured for automatically computing a control stick command corresponding to an optimum current position for parabolic flight; c) a position determination unit configured to automatically determine an effective current position of the control stick; and d) a display unit configured to automatically show on the at least scale of control stick positions which is displayed on a screen of the cockpit, simultaneously; (i) a first indicator representing the control stick command computed for the computation unit; and (ii) a second indicator representing the effective current position of the control stick, determined by the position determination unit; and e) the computation unit being configured to automatically compute said control stick command C on the basis of the following equation;
C=k0+k1*cos θ
/V+k2*sin 2θ
/V2in which; θ
is a current angle of pitch of the aircraft;V is a current speed of the aircraft; and k0, k1 and k2 are predetermined constants.
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10. An aircraft comprising a manual pilot system comprising:
a) a piloting assistance device for assisting the piloting of the aircraft during a parabolic flight of the aircraft to generate weightlessness in the aircraft, the piloting assistance device comprising; (i) a control stick capable of actuation by the pilot to alter its position and configured to act on at least one elevator so as to generate piloting of the aircraft on the pitch axis according to the position of the control stick, (ii) a computation unit configured for automatically computing a control stick command corresponding to an optimum current position for parabolic flight; (iii) a position determination unit configured to automatically determine an effective current position of the control stick; and (iv) a display unit configured to automatically show on the at least scale of control stick positions which is displayed on a screen of the cockpit, simultaneously; a first indicator representing the control stick command computed for the computation unit; and a second indicator representing the effective current position of the control stick, determined by the position determination unit; and (v) the computation unit being configured to automatically compute said control stick command C on the basis of the following equation;
C=k0+k1*cos θ
/V+k2*sin 2θ
/V2in which; θ
is a current angle of pitch of the aircraft;V is a current speed of the aircraft; and k0, k1 and k2 are predetermined constants.
Specification