GB2586900A - Flight control system - Google Patents

Abstract

A flight control system comprising: human balance operated flight control; a haptic simulacrum embedded in the flight control, which is gimbal mounted on an inertial platform control column with a stabilised inertial and rotating frame; an aircraft primary flight control 1 mounted on a frame column; a means of maintaining the aircraft control and the aircraft attitude such that the pilot has continuous attitude feedback; a means of articulating a PID control; a means of coupling the PID control with the flight control system; the aircraft having its angular and displacement input forces sensed by force sensors in a PID control column; characterized in that there is a means of controlling altitude drift through a display and a further means of displaying flight control and other information; wherein said flight control system comprises a fixed or gimbal articulated force stick column 1.

Description

FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM FIELD OF INVENTION:

[0011 The present subject matter described herein, relates to a flight control system, in particular to proportion P integration I and differentiation D (PID) inertial flight control system for displaying integrated haptic aircraft situation awareness with G-augmented balance control error information to a pilot thereby providing a means of flight control described as eyes-free flying (EFF). Said control may find application in civil personal and recreational aviation and include fixed and rotating wing aircraft, spacecraft and RPVs

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:

[0021 Generally, the prior art is well described [1] and includes control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) in it's automated navigation systems, also used to point sights thrusters and telescopes at and to follow stars, satellites, track terrain and waypoints whilst maintaining attitude and altitude (an inertial platform with driven or slaved rotating frame of reference to compensate for the Earth's spin) and control spacecraft attitude to promote attitude control, terrain fixing, eliminate camera judder and orbital tumbling. Also gyro-based artificial horizon displays have been corrected to point with "G" (also a rotating inertial frame of reference) using evacuating air and gravity-acting pendulous vanes partially occluding evacuating air jet ports, electrical motorized gyros, optical fiber systems, GPS and or VOR, as the aircraft circumnavigates the Earth's globe, which is in turn also rotating.

[0031 The existing aircraft require highly skilled pilots to fly safely, but as the demand for personal airborne transportation increases, the main commercial design driver, recreational manual flying will continue to be in demand. Flying cars and drones will also under certain circumstances, e.g. parking, garaging, training and maintenance, require dual or switched-mode controls before handing over from manual to automated flight. Flying the existing aircraft with such older mechanical avionics instrumentation, especially when practicing spin and stall recovery with limited gimbal rotation stops leads to aircraft upset as described, which may create negative skill transfer when flying glass cockpits just when it is least needed: when coping with stalls and spins in critical situations and (not) reverting to visual flight rules (VFR).

[4] The delegation of control between manual and automatic functions has also been problematic, developed out of necessity from a machine-centric rather than a human-centric interface design standpoint. Moreover, the separation of functions including controls from displays and the pilot from aircraft with electronic flight control systems may have impeded pilot situation awareness whilst creating greater systems fail-safe complexity to compensate for the increased human error. The decision to ignore and disrupt the conflicting human balance senses was taken by early developers which may be leading to the ever-increasing reliance on electronic controls and displays and confusion in the modern cockpit by end users (pilots).

[5] The human nervous system by comparison with man made, partially automated systems comprises a peripheral and a central nervous system which is also divided into voluntary and involuntary (manual and autonomic) nervous systems with afferent and efferent nervous pathway divisions, or sensory and motor control nervous pathways (hence separated controls and displays). These nervous systems are however highly evolved for conscious and subconscious task delegation, including body movements, breathing, vision hearing touch and balancing (orientation with proprioception) in standing, running and walking, and the actual coupling between human sensory-motor pathways is more advanced with mediator pathways, making a case for integrated displays rather than the binary separated human machine interface designs (combined rather than separated controls and displays) we are accustomed to coping with. This allows the Human nervous system to automate balancing skills like ice skating peripherally with local intelligence. Additionally, consciousness (brain activity as a measure of alertness and responsiveness) is maintained by dynamic balance and posture maintenance [5] by the reticular and general activation systems RAS and GAS which are in turn driven by environmental dynamic stimuli anomalies sensed (detected) by the peripheral nervous system. This explains why babies can be rocked gently in a quiet place to fall asleep but easily woken by a sudden movement, or unfamiliar (non-repeating) sound.

[6] The logical and physical separation of functions including displays and controls remains instilled into contemporary engineering and design ergonomics binary (quantitative) problem solving, fault diagnostics and thinking however, creating additional (qualitative) stresses on the pilot's situation awareness, it is argued. By integrating the gimbaled gyro aircraft attitude display with the primary flight control as described, pilot situation awareness is increased, making piloted flying more intuitive and accessible to the general public.

[7] The pilot's sense of balance is thereby G-augmented and utilized in this invention by applying negative leading (translational, differentiation reaction) forces and positive proportional rotation and twist control forces and positive integral altitudinal and attitudinal drift control error display to the primary flight control in differentially related sequence for maintaining balance and control respectively thereby enhancing situation awareness whilst making the aircraft more intuitive to fly.

[8] Therefore, the existing aircraft-centered rather than Earth's-G and human-centered flight control systems have been the main engineering design driver, making automation whilst maintaining situation awareness an increasingly complex problem to solve. Airframe rather than horizon-coupled controls with separated attitude and other displays have, with motion control stereotype conflicts, resulted in pilot confusion and errors over the decades, contributing to confusion, disorientation and situation awareness failures and ultimately crashes and fatalities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

[009] The present subject matter relates to proportion "P" integration "I" and differentiation "D" (PID) inertial flight control system for displaying integrated haptic aircraft situation awareness with G-augmented balance error control information feedback to the pilot. Said ND flight control system combines temporally related leading translational negative D control forces (manual control push pull or lean) and trailing rotational P displacement forces (manual twist or rotate forces) in continuous concave control locus surfaces and quadrants and CMG slaved gimbals thereby overcoming conflicting motion control stereotypes for displaying integrated haptic aircraft situation awareness including attitude and altitude drift integral I with 0-augmented balance control sensory error information to said pilot, thereby providing a means of flight control feedback / feed forward as described as eyes-free flying (EFF), to complement VFR and IFR flying. Said control comprises a gimbaled aircraft simulacrum-embedded control mounted on a gimbaled control column slaved to a CMG, so that said gimbaled column always points to G and said gimbaled aircraft control simulacrum is stabilised in gimbals to emulate the aircraft's true attitude with respect to earth and the horizon whilst also incorporating an altitude drift error I (variable height component) display.

[0010] The present invention maintains the pilot's situation awareness arid engagement during periods of low as well as high workload [3], which has become a major safety issue as avionics systems become increasingly automated and complex.

[0011] This primary flight control system may be used in extraterrestrial air/space craft including space docking and landers, providing the pilot with enhanced virtual gravity G cues for upright-sensing and hence balancing in orbit, docking, take-off, hover, maneuvering and landing.

[0012] Additionally, haptic displays have only hitherto been used to differentiate mission critical controls from each other including difficult to see landing gear by texture and shape i.e. haptic encoding. No integrated haptic control display appears to have been implemented, despite compelling research findings suggesting more complex haptic encoding possibilities [7]. In order to start to lean right in standing, an initial counter-force left is required to cause the right lean as roll right and then to control or limit the rate of roll right or lean right angular displacement rate, a counter-force 'negative right' (force left) is subsequently required, forming an impulse roll control feedback loop.

[0013] During stalls and spins, gyro-based altitude and compass displays may tumble for prolonged periods afterwards, making them unusable. In the absence of external visual cues, the pilot can also become disoriented by his unreliable sense of balance. Further, there is a mismatch between the dynamics of large heavy passenger aircraft attitude control systems and human posture maintenance hence balance and orientation. Given the additional distraction and workload resulting from reading and responding to complex instrumentation and conflicting visual cues, the lack of immediate and predictive aircraft responsiveness to existing manual control activation can occasionally lead to disorientation, loss of control and situation awareness.

[0014] In order to further understand the characteristics and technical contents of the present subject matter, a description relating thereto will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the drawings are illustrative only but not used to limit scope of the present subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of the present subject matter and are therefore not to be considered for limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments. The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which: [0016] Figures la-1c illustrate schematic view of rotational displacement of the force stick for flight control system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; [0017] Figures 2a-2c illustrate schematic view of flying straight and level, the stick control for flight control system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter, [0018] Figure 3 illustrates perspective view of pilot for flight control system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; [0019] Figures 3a and 3b illustrate schematic view of the pilot flying or riding the aircraft straight and level intuitively leaning with his own body to control with G augmented balance error, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; [0020] Figure 4 illustrates a schematic view of a switched flight mode to reverse the counter-force action of the primary control stick, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter, [0021] Figures 4a -4c illustrate side elevation view of aircraft in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; [0022] Figure 5 illustrates schematic view of force control for flight control system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; [0023] Figures 6a -6c illustrate schematic view of primary flight control for flight control system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; [0024] Figures 7a -7c illustrate schematic view of pilot flying the aircraft straight and level at normal altitude with +/-drift control error displayed by the primary flight control; in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; [0025] Figures 8a -8d illustrate schematic view of inertial primary flight control for PD flight control system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; [0026] Figure 9 illustrates perspective and part schematic view of a modified flight control yoke with indirectly-coupled dual controls and a single directly-coupled gimbaled CMG (Control Moment Gyroscope) gyro mounted at its base, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; [0027] Figure 10 illustrates elevation view of drift control error altitude in tactile display mounted on a hydraulically-operated inertial primary flight control centre stalk or side stick, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; [0028] Figures ii a-11 d illustrate by graphical representation said flight control system dynamics with leading translational displacement impulse force "D", control demand causing the aircraft's rate of climb "P" proportional to the control's rotational displacement force, and altitude "I" for accumulating positively over time in the PID primary flight control system; in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; s [0029] Figure 12 illustrates the hand-operated primary flight control with embedded integrated haptic flight display, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter; and [0030] Figures 12a and 12b illustrate in elevation and plan views respectively said embedded integrated haptic flight display, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

[0031] The figures depict embodiments of the present subject matter for the purposes of illustration only. A person skilled in the art will easily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION:

[0032] The present subject matter relates to a flight control system for displaying integrated haptic aircraft situation awareness with G augmented balance control error information to a pilot thereby providing a means of flying eyes-free EFF, providing the following object of the invention: * Redundant, integrated haptic display and control modality enabling "eyes-free" intuitive flight control and operation, * Compensates for growing use of glass cockpit where pilot situation awareness is threatened when faults, disorientation, lack of VFR I (Vi sible Flight Rules) visibility and errors occur and engagement with flight dynamics becomes paramount; * Primary flight control task performance maintained into high levels of distracting workload; * Overcoming the manual altitude maintenance control drift problem; * Maintaining altitude, glide paths, terrain avoidance manually and detecting stall; * Overcoming malicious laser-induced pilot blindness by this attack countermeasure by advanced haptic control design as described, * Overcoming unstable flight configurations by enhancing pilot situation awareness; * Potentially enabling a radical simplification of cockpit visual displays making manual flight operation more intuitive and accessible to the general population e.g to car drivers with minimal training, subject to evaluation; * Overcomes conflicting motion control stereotypes by using a concave, virtual control quadrant (as opposed to convex floor-pivoting mechanical 3D control quadrants (e.g. joystick); * Reduces mental workload of manual flight, * Utilizes, corrects and reinforces the operators sense of balance; * Makes piloting (personal flight) more accessible to the general public, with minimal training and driving skills transfer; * Human centered design approach matches aircraft response dynamics with pilot's balance in terms of time and direction of reactive and impulsive control forces, * Use in space and extra-terrestrial activities to facilitate improved situation awareness through virtual G-assisted flight control in manual docking, landing, hover and takeoff; and * Aircraft simulacrum haptic integrated flight control -display provides rapid eyes-free pilot error correction and system failure detection and localization [0033] In accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter, a primary flight force control with embedded aircraft simulacrum is coupled to an active control column that is maintained pointing upright acting as an inertial platform thereby providing augmented balance control irrespective of aircraft attitude and altitude when flying within the normal flight envelope. Accordingly, manual forces operating the flight force control and simulacrum are interpreted by the flight control system as control demands which cause said flight force control to alter its coupling angle with respect to the active control column's platform over time dynamically, providing true aircraft attitude flight situational feedback to the pilot by haptic means.

[0034] The primary flight force control may contain a reset or trim button to re-centre its height periodically during sustained climb or descent. A haptic judder or vibrational display may be added to add flight envelope boundaries and early stall warnings in flight path guided manual EFF flight mode. Furthermore, in a dual cockpit, the left workstation as occupied by the pilot would have the tactile altitude drift error display mounted on or in the left hand far side of the primary flight control yoke's handlebars and the right workstation would have it mounted on the right hand far side, enabling the pilot's and co-pilot's other hand to operate the shared central throttles and stalks. The dual control yokes require to be further modified to make their main stalks angular stabilised to remain pointing vertically upright by gimbaling suspension and servos as described.

[0035] In terms of providing control redundancy in the event of CMG (Control Moment Gyroscope) or dependent systems failure, said dual primary flight controls would retain independent autonomous force control functionality and the aircraft's existing attitude displays would provide backup to allow pilots means to revert seamlessly from flying VFR (Visual Flight Rule) with CMG to [FR (Instrument Flight Rule) with decoupled CMG.

[0036] According to the present invention, there is provided the flight control system that displays integrated haptic aircraft situation awareness with G-augmented balance control error information to the pilot thereby providing a means of flying eyes-free EFF. The system comprises an haptic aircraft simulacn.un embedded in a human balance sensitive force operated primary flight force control, which is mounted on / servo-coupled to an inertial platform maintained control column with a stabilised and rotating frame of reference to provide gimbaled true tactile aircraft true attitude and altitude drift aircraft situational awareness display feedback to the pilot, with a negative leading differential component (D) in the flight control system feedback loop stabilised to the horizon by pendular and or GPS slaved CMG airframe coupling means thereby always maintained pointing upright (or vertical with respect to G when flying inverted), in which operator forces are applied to center the aircraft with respect to the stick and thereby fly straight and level so that to correct from a nose-up aircraft attitude the stick is forced back whilst being force rotated forward as the operator leans forward and to correct from a nose-down aircraft attitude the stick is forced forward whilst being rotated up as the operator leans back, and correspondingly, for banking left as the operator leans left and forces the stick to the right whilst rotating it to the left, means of maintaining the stick and aircraft attitude (airframe) perpendicular and centered to fly straight and level so that the pilot has continuous integrated aircraft attitude feedback through the stick's angular displacement position relative to the aircraft his balance the cockpit's orientation in his visual field and the ground, a means of articulating a PID (Proportion Integration Differentiation) control in rotation and displacement dynamic positioning to maintain the manual flight control rotation and displacement independently of transient manual forces applied, a means of controlling accumulating altitude drift control error through a display in the tactile mode on a side of the aircraft primary flight control force stick that is continuously detectable by fingers, palm and or thumb and a further means of displaying flight control surface and other information in the tactile mode to include aelerons, flaps, elevators, rudder, undercarriage locked/retracted, engine thrusts, stall warning. Therefore, the flight control system is variously described to comprise a force stick to include a control and it's column which may be fixed or gimbal articulated to the aircraft's airftame, a means of operating said system in zero G 'g' to include orbital weightlessness.

[0037] In accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter relates to the flight control system that corrects the Earth's curvature such that it always points vertical and remains stabilised to the horizon. The flight control system slaves the stick servo to GPS and or to traditional pendular vanes to remain level in the electro-mechanical embodiment, as adopted from or linked to the existing artificial horizon display. Electronic, inertial, laser or lightly modified control moment gyros CMGs without evacuating air-driven pendular rotating parts provide tumble free, mechanically decoupled operation to improve stall recovery and prevent "aircraft upset".

[0038] In the event of the pilot losing control during a spin or stall, control may be recovered by systematically applying counter-forces in yaw, pitch and roll to 'pick up' the fallen-over stick and re-centre it. The shortest route to recovering controls is to force the stick back from its fallen-over position towards the central position from its blind spot. Said stick has a 90 degree blind spot caused by servo mountings which lies well outside the normal flight envelope. A second articulating gimbaled joint in the joystick as described in fig. 4 can however provide a full 360 degrees stick articulation: * In the event of repeated prolonged stall and spin creating aircraft upset, the stick is maintained mechanically decoupled from the gyro gimbals comprising the CMG which requires maintaining full and free rotation in its gimbals regardless of aircraft attitude The CMG retains remote electric coupling so that it never loses its bearings; * Further, a motor driven tactile display of aircraft rotation is incorporated in the top of the stick or yoke handle which indicates aircraft yaw and spins in the same direction as tailspin in the event of stall. By applying thumb pressure, breaking or turning is applied to the spinning or rotated display which causes the mdder to be rotated in the same direction to counter the spin. In the event of a moving wing aircraft or spacecraft, pressurised air jet thrusts may be vectored in a counter direction.

[0039] It should be noted that the description and figures merely illustrate the principles of the present subject matter. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present subject matter. It should also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that by devising various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present subject matter and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the present subject matter and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be constructed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the present subject matter, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures.

[0040] These and other advantages of the present subject matter would be described in greater detail with reference to the following figures. It should be noted that the description merely illustrates the principles of the present subject matter. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described herein, embody the principles of the present subject matter and are included within its scope.

[0041] Reference may be made Figure la illustrating rotational displacement of force stick is maintained by the pilot (4) in Earth's zero azimuth El, pointing perpendicular to the ground (6), by angular roll displacement-sensing gyro and servo gimbal. The aircraft attitude in roll with respect to the stick displays zero displacement when flying straight and level. Such that, changes in aircraft attitude change the stick's rotational displacement directly, manually applied forces are resisted but will change it indirectly over time as they control aircraft attitude.

[0042] Reference may be made Figure lb illustrating the pilot leans left (9), the stick is initially forced right as in reflexive balance shift by reactive posture leaning onset (10), met with a counter-force resistance from a gyro driven servo stick (3) which causes the aircraft to begin to roll to the left, setting the severity of the roll rate. To maintain the left bank, the pilot then maintains lean left but ceasing to apply said initial said counter force right and forcing the stick control steadily left he/she rides the banked turn whilst optionally applying left twist rudder by angular displacement, when viewed from above. The posture and attitude are also maintained intuitively through applying counter-forces through the operator's feet, also shown arrowed (12).

[0043] Reference may be made Figure lc illustrating the pilot leans right, the stick is initially forced left as the converse of Figure lb, to commence roll right or check reflexively lean left with excessive roll left e.g. whilst pulling g in a tight turn in order to shift posture. The stick is then steadily forced right in the direction of lean and bank right.

[0044] Reference may be made Figure 2a illustrating schematic view of flying straight and level (31), such that the stick control is maintained pointing upright with respect to the cockpit and horizon with no asymmetric posture displacements or control demand forces applied. This provides positional and situational feedback to the operator that all is normal and altitude is being maintained. The stick is pivoted on passive control column (30) by gimbaled servo joint (29).

[00451 Reference may be made Figure 2b illustrating schematic view of initiating flying nose-up in climb, such that the pilot requires to lean backward whilst forcing the stick forward (23) thereby as if to initiate falling backwards as a control "system offset" demand pre balance reflex.

[00461 Reference may be made Figure 2c illustrating schematic view of initiating flying nose down in the dive (24), the stick is forced back (25) whilst the pilot leans forward (26), thereby effectively pulling the control back towards the pilot to initiate falling forwards as in commencing walking. To maintain the dive or pitch rate, the pilot ceases to lean and force the control to maintain the aircraft's rate of descent (or climb) which is fed back (displayed) to the operator as an angular stick displacement (27).

[0047] Reference may be made to Figure 3 illustrating a perspective view of the pilot (30) maintaining the aircraft roll attitude (40) manually through small balance or lean posture shifts with leading reactive (negative "D") force reflexes (43) and active control force (41) in a direction of banking (40) in the VFR flight mode, using whole body of the pilot including feet pressing down on the wings to maintain reflexive balance (33).

[0048] Accordingly, the primary flight control (35) and active control column (42) form the pilot and aircraft's conflicting balance senses, displayed as an error (36) which advantageously forms part of the primary flight control loop. The aircraft and hence aircraft simulacrum (also 31) with pendular /GPS slaved CMG stabilised platform (42) maintained flight control (35) displaying the upright inertial frame of reference at its centre, stabilizes the true primary flight control irrespective of aircraft attitude during stall and tumble, where the tumbling airframe represented by said simulacrum is coupled directly to the outer gimbals.

The pilot's sense of balance as obtained from his otolith organs (38) is shown in error with the horizon perpendicular (36) as may occur in the 1/FR flight under adverse visibility conditions [0049] Reference may be made to Figure 3a illustrating perspective view of the pilot (30) to fly or ride the aircraft straight and level intuitively with his own body like a bird or jockey through tilt-lean-twist postural shifts also known as reactive balance control reflexes (41, 43), whereby in order to lean and bank right, the operator (pilot) first presses down and right with his left limbs (33) on the left side of the fuselage and wing to commence leaning to the right, and in order to reverse, maintain or control the rate of banking, he reverses the process by initially pushing against the lean and bank left to correct and bank left.

[0050] Reference may be made to Figure 3b illustrating principle of conservation of angular momentum through rotational inertia in the remote pendular CMG (control moment gyroscope) is shown (32, 39). By providing the pilot with a sense of upright through tactile attitude display as described, he/she can correct a stall and fly straight and level in limited visibility using the 1/FR and his/her sense of balance EFF (eyes free flying) mode as described.

[0051] Accordingly, the problem of accessing the central spinning gyro directly as the tactile frame of reference and to thereby apply restorative control forces if adopted into the primary flight control by direct mechanical coupling becomes apparent: introducing tactile disturbances to the gyro and or gimbals results in said gyro tumble.

[0052] Reference may be made to Figure 4 illustrating schematic view switched flight mode to reverse the counter-force action of the primary control stick so that those more experienced pilots can also fly in the more traditional "Aircraft-centric" mode instead of "Pilot-centric" mode as described herein whilst retaining some of the benefits of haptic control displayed situation awareness.

Articulating gimbaled joint (40) provides for the mounting of a conventional displacement yoke or hand control on top of the stick (centre or side) as described.

[0053] Reference may be made to Figure 4a illustrating side elevation view of the aircraft which is flying straight and level (43) over terrain with additional gimbaled jointed control stick column assembly (40) fully aligned with additional rotational degrees of freedom of movement (45) (chained lines) pointing vertical.

[0054] Reference may be made to Figure 4b illustrating schematic view of aircraft in climb (46) with the upper portion of said gimbaled jointed stick being pulled back (41) and lower portion aligned (angular stabilised) with the upright (44) 'G'.

[0055] Reference may be made to Figure 4c illustrating schematic view of aircraft in dive with the upper portion of gimbaled jointed stick being pushed forward (42) and the lower portion aligned (angular stabilised) with the upright and perpendicular horizon (50). Airframe (48) and lower fixed control column segment (49) provide partial pilot vestibular and visual feedback of aircraft attitude, which are overcome by this invention, as described in Figure 3.

[0056] Reference may be made to Figure 5 illustrating schematic view of force control (50, 54) mounted on an active control column that comprises a stabilised platform (65) maintained level (a) and upright by servo actuators (58, 59) which may include self-centering, sprung-damped hydraulic and pneumatic components slave-driven by a deconstructed CMG including gyros and accelerometers. The stabilised platform suspension comprises non-parallelogram outrigger radius arms (61) for platform counter-actuation in aircraft roll (a) and pitch (b) in such a geometric configuration that a control manual demand climb force (56) is perceived as a "rotate", pulling the stick back that conforms with current pilot motion control stereotypes, whilst through accompanying near-lateral displacement provides additional balance and pitch feedback as described as the pilot leans back to initiate a climb (55).

[0057] Accordingly, in roll (a) (53) the stick actuation locus of movement is shown dashed for banking with lateral balance displacement (51, 52). The pantographic arms (62) may be terminated in ball and socket bearings or gimbals (60) to accommodate the required degrees of freedom of movement in pitch and roll but also yaw where a twist rudder is incorporated into the control as previously described. Multiple force sensors mounted at the top and bottom of the control handle or yoke detect differential manual actuation forces (63, 64) as rotational demand forces (56) which are translated into lateral control platform displacements as the aircraft changes attitude in pitch (56, 55) and roll (57, 53) [0058] Reference may be made to Figure 6a illustrating schematic view of primary flight control (60) mounted on an inertial platform (61), maintained in dynamic repositioning flying straight and level with zero altitude control error by three or more telescopic servo hydraulic rams (67), coupled to the cockpit floor hence airframe (62).

[0059] Reference may be made to Figure 6b illustrating schematic view of control (70) maintained in raised position (when flying low) with rotational and or translational corrective manual forces (66) applied. The flight control system includes an electronic control module (601) that powers hydraulic primary flight control via flexible hydraulic couplings (602, 605). Further, the flight control system includes an inertial sensor (603) having a combination of rotational and translational accelerometers and gyroscopes. The vibrational haptic control display (604) is driven by the flight control system which is activated when the upper boundary of the flight path is reached, indicating the pilot to make a manual aircraft attitude correction. The control vibration is further touch encoded for stall and pull-ups warnings. The primary flight control comprises a combination of rotational and translational force sensors mounted radially at top (606) and bottom (607) of the control handle so that rotational (608) and translational (609) restorative manual forces can be fed into the flight control system as inputs.

[0060] Reference may be made to Figure 6c illustrating schematic view of control in lower position (flying high) with corrective manual rotation and or translational forces applied (71, 72, 73) [0061] Reference may be made to Figure 7a illustrating the pilot (76) flying the aircraft (77) straight and level at normal altitude with zero drift control error (78, 76) with the primary flight control in its central vertical position (83).

[0062] Reference may be made to Figure 7b illustrating the pilot (74) flying straight and level at raised altitude with the control in its raised central vertical position (84). For optimal situation awareness display however this altitude error motion control stereotype is reversed with the control located at its lower level (Figure 7c).

[0063] Reference may be made to Figure 7c illustrating the pilot (75) flying straight and level at lower altitude with the control in its lower position (85). The flight control system includes a bracket (79) shows the flight envelope located around the altitude above ground (78) with haptic display limits (81, 82) which vibrate when exceeded. For optimal situation awareness display however this altitude error motion control stereotype is reversed with its control located at it's upper level (Figure 7b).

[0064] [0065] Accordingly, the flight controls vertical displacement range bracket (80) is shown and made proportional to actual flight envelope (79) [0066] Reference may be made to Figure 8a illustrating schematic view of inertial primary flight control maximally displaced in the climb with clockwise aircraft rotation, control movement and forces applied.

[0067] Reference may be made to Figure 8b and 8c illustrating schematic view of primary flight control flying straight and level (centered), and an inertial primary flight control maximally displaced in dive with rotational manual control forces applied (counterclockwise), as described in Figure 8c.

[0068] Reference may be made to Figure 8d illustrating schematic view of upper and lower primary flight control motion locations (82, 83) are shown chain dashed, as GPS and or inertially corrected inertial aircraft attitude displays, are shown in upper (82) and lower (83) extremes of altitudinal displacement display, as determined by the relative lengths of telescopic hydraulic tripod inertial control struts (85) mounted platform support arms (80, 81) as well as anthropometric considerations, requiring HOTAS operation. The inertial control mounted platform is shown fully pivoted (86) would be claiming nearly vertically, as shown in Figure 8a. Given the position of the pilot's right hand and forearm, looking from right to left for forward motion (90).

[0069] Accordingly, as the control is operated by applying a rotational force backwards it moves forward as the aircraft climbs (shown arrowed), clockwise A, thereby overcoming conflicting aircraft motion control stereotypes. The force sensors in the control as described in Figure 7 can accept rotational as well as translational stick demand forces. The inertial platform mounted controls concave locus of control motion is shown dashed (88, 83).

[0070] Reference may be made to Figure 9 illustrating perspective and part schematic view of a modified flight control yoke with 'indirectly-coupled' dual controls (a, left) and a single 'directly-coupled' gimbaled CMG gyro mounted at its base (b, right). According to the present invention that the inertial primary flight control yoke (91) shows tactile altitude drift display (92) mounted on a far side handle (94) (pilot's seat) from the centre throttles (93). The control stalk floor mounting (95) and anchoring (106) is modified to accept CMG slaved pitch control as described with force sensors mounted in the handles (94, 97) and body (96) to detect translational manual pitch (98) and roll (99) and rotational pitch (101) and roll (100) force control inputs. Sprung counterweight (102) provides pendular stability to the gimbaled (105) rotating a flywheel (104). To eliminate aircraft upset, the counterweight and yoke are decoupled to allow the gyro full rotational freedom in its gimbals during stall for example. Torque motors and sensors (103) provide rotational control force inputs in orthogonal axes to forces applied to the yoke.

[00711 The inertial and rotating frame primary flight control yoke is shown in its neutral position pointing upright and stabilised to the horizon, with inset height (altitude) drift error tactile display incorporated into the control handle and gimbal CMG co-located in its gimbaled base.

[0072" Reference may be made to Figure 10 illustrating side elevation view of drift control error altitude in tactile display mounted on a hydraulically-operated inertial primary flight control centre stalk or side stick Accordingly, the proportional altitude drift error slider knob mechanism (102, 116) is displayed to the pilot in a tactile mariner (through the sensory modality of touch), incorporated into the body shell of the control stick (101) such that it may be detected by the pilot's fingers, palm and thumb as a shape and or texture-encoded protuberance mounted on an internal worm or helical screw-driven slider (110, 111) driven by a synchronous motor (103) for maintaining positional accuracy in varying levels of resistant grip force without damage or discomfort to the operators hand. The whole hand including fingers thumb and palms is the preferred embedded haptic display of control error location(s) and range or span (104, 105, 106, 107) on account of their combined degrees of freedom of movement to track the display directly without inducing strain or static thumb-hand position loading. The stick's control body shell has further haptic encoded touch surface protuberances (107, 108) to mark out a drift error scale of several +/-divisions in addition to its central position, scaled automatically to central position (105) by manual interval reset button (109) The stick's control body shell is mounted on the hydraulically stabilised inertial platform (117, 112) via force sensors (113, 114, 115, 116) (4 of 8 shown as triangles) mounted radially at the bottom and top of the stick to differentiate and resolve translational, pitch and roll forces applied manually by the pilot as manual force control inputs into the flight control system. By determining the sensed magnitudes and differentials in manually applied forces as control demands, flight control surfaces are actuated. The aircraft yaw and stall spin tactile control/display is mounted in the head of the opposite yoke control handle to the altitude display, made accessible to the thumb.

[00731 Reference may be made to Figure 11a-11c illustrating graphical representation of pilot control leading translational displacement impulse force "D", control demand causing the aircraft's rate of climb "P" proportional to the control's rotational displacement force, and altitude "I" for accumulating positively over time in the PID primary flight control system. The dynamics of flight control system for maintaining the aircraft elevation feedback loop with the operators sense of balance: a. the pilot's translational reactive control operating forces d2X/dt "D", providing balance sensitivity through control feedback b. corresponding aircraft (and pilot) altitude displacement "X" with respect to time "t", c. rate of climb "dx/dt", the "P" component of said PID feedback controller and d the primary control force stick's twist and displacement force feedback inputs with translational force operation tx = "D" 114 and rotational force operation rx = "I" 113.

[00741 As shown in Figure I la, the leading negative pilot control translational (116) displacement force "D" causes the aircraft's rate of climb (143) to increase in proportion to said control force. Small changes in control force over time (t), (111, 112) facilitate and maintain fine balance control feedback with posture shifts (leaning fore aft whilst holding the flight control stick) to the pilot's senses.

[00751 As shown in Figure 1 1 b, the rate of climb "P" proportional to the control's rotational displacement force (rx) (137, 119) (shown dashed) with respect to time (t). The negative rotational forces control rate of descent (138) also with respect to time (t) [0076] As shown in Figure 11 c, the altitude (119) for accumulating positively over time (119) "I" (as the integral to include drift), being maintained (132) and accumulating negatively with respect to time (135) (an integral function of rate and sign of climb +/0/-). This is shown as the rate of climb (117, 118) or rate of descent (134, 135). In this figure shows the dashed line (140) for the control response lag caused by the progressive activation and repositioning of motorized / hydraulic elevators in winged horizontal flight. Further control response latencies arise from proportional-only acting feed-through control systems (141, 142).

[0077] Accordingly, the rotational force control forces (rx) (128) and translational force forces (tx) (114) are acting on force sensors embedded in the control stick (129) which is driven in the concave tactile attitude display mechanism (131) by the active control column. Said translational forces, also interpreted as lean forces initiating and sustaining the pilot's balance senses, resulting in the aircraft's altitude becoming reactive to the pilots conscious and autonomic posture control responses (115), where every action (force) has an equal and opposite reaction according to Newton's Law of motion.

[0078] Reference may be made to Figure 12 illustrating plan and end elevation view of primary flight control with an embedded integrated haptic flight display for maximizing pilot aircraft situation awareness in part sectioned view. The display comprises an aircraft simulacrum which includes articulating aircraft flight control surfaces, trim, yaw, crabbing, fairing, engine thrusts and undercarriage status that can be ascertained eyes-free as described above in form of an haptic display.

[0079] Reference may be made to Figure 12a illustrating schematic view of primary flight control (120) operated by the pilot's hand fingers thumb palm or hands (121) such that the aircraft's flight situation can be conveyed through touching said aircraft simulacrum display. The control may be force and displacement operated as described above. The pendular gimbaled (129) CIVIC servo stabilised control column (123) provides straight and level aircraft flight reference within passenger flight envelope constraints (130) as described above. The embedded integrated haptic flight display (122) comprises motorised wing-mounted twin engine output thrust vectors (123, 124) ailerons (125) undercarriage status (126) rudder displacement (127) trims and roll ball attitude drift or trim (128).

[0080] Reference may be made to Figure 12b illustrating schematic view of embedded integrated haptic flight display viewed from pilot's eye above has twist rudder control display (131, 127) facilitating aircraft crabbing in crosswinds or engine failure within flight envelope (132). Elevators (133) are also displayed, completing the haptic display feedback of controlled aircraft attitude and situation.

[0081] In accordance with an advantages of the present subject matter as comparison with the known prior art: the primary flight control system may be used in extraterrestrial air/space craft including space docking and landers, providing the pilot with enhanced virtual gravity cues for upright-sensing and hence balancing in docking, take-off, hover and landing. By improving situation awareness thus, the haptic feedback control allows a pilot to locate the glide path by feel and by directed logical thought processes, thereby facilitating a guided landing approach by VFR assisted by said eyes free flying EEF in limited or zero visibility with systems failures and accompanying vestibular disorientation for example: a pilot temporarily blinded by a laser strike for example or a passenger could also assist to land the aircraft with talk down assistance from ground control. Furthermore, maintaining the altitude in zero visibility / facilitated by adding a height servo tactile display to the flight control. When the aircraft accumulates height above a set reference altitude or flight path over a preset period of seconds or minutes through drift trim offset or error, the control height increases proportionally relative to the aircraft floor, and conversely when the aircraft loses height below a set reference, the control height decreases proportionally. The ratio of proportionality to true altitude (control feedback sensitivity) can be set to flight requirements including stall detection at take off, holding pattern, landing and cruise. The situation awareness is also maintained into stall as the aircraft's inertial frame of reference attitude control display is maintained, whilst the height control display as described conveys immediate aircraft situation awareness to the pilot.

[00821 Although embodiments for the present subject matter have been described in language specific to structural features, it is to be understood that the present subject matter is not necessarily limited to the specific features described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as embodiments for the present subject matter. Numerous modifications and adaptations of the system/component of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and thus it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and adaptations which fall within the scope of the present subject matter.

References [1] Katherine Plant, Research Assistant in the Transportation Research Group, Catherine Harvey, Research Fellow & Neville Stanton, Chair of Human Factors, Transportation Research Group, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, University of Southampton.

"Flying Towards the Future: an overview of cockpit technologies", Issue 520, The Ergonomist, October 2013.

[3] Shirley Brennan, QinetiQ, "Too little to do. The significant impact low workload can have on human performance has generally been overlooked", The Ergonomist, ergonomics.org.uk, Sept-Oct 2019 [5] Neuroimaging of Human Balance Control: A Systematic Review Ellen Wittenberg, Jessica Thompson, [...], and Jason R. Franz Front Hum Neurosci. 2017; 11: 170.

Published online 2017 Apr 10. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00170 PMCID: PMC5385364 PMID: 28443007 [7] Diego C. Ruspini1, Krasimir Kolarov2 and Oussama Khatib1, Stanford University1 Interval Research Corporation2 "The Haptic Display of Complex Graphical Environments", COMPUTER GRAPHICS Proceedings, Annual Conference Series, 1997

Claims (14)

1. Claims A flight control system comprises: a 0-augmented human balance operated air/space craft primary flight control; a haptic aircraft simulacrum embedded in the human balance and G augmented air/space craft primary flight force control, which is gimbal mounted on an inertial platform control column with a stabilised inertial and rotating frame of reference to provide tactile aircraft true attitude altitude drift and aircraft situational awareness feedback to a pilot with a negative leading differential component (D); an aircraft primary flight control mounted on the stabilised inertial and rotating frame column which is maintained level and upright by servo actuators; a means of maintaining the aircraft primary flight force control and the aircraft attitude perpendicular and centered to fly straight and level such that the pilot has continuous integrated aircraft attitude feedback through the control's angular displacement position relative to the control column; a means of articulating a PID (Proportion Integration Differentiation) control in rotation and displacement dynamic positioning to maintain the manual flight control rotation and displacement independently of transient manual forces applied; a means of coupling the PID control with the flight control system and the aircraft having its angular and displacement control input forces sensed by force sensors in the PID control grips stalk column and the aircraft attitude input displacement sensed by gimballed gyros and accelerometers; and characterized in that a means of controlling accumulating altitude drift control error through a display in the tactile mode on a side of the aircraft primary flight control force stick that is continuously detectable by fingers, palm and or thumb and a further means of displaying flight control surface and other information in the tactile mode to include aelerons, flaps, elevators, rudder, undercarriage locked/retracted, engine thrusts, stall warning; wherein said flight control system is variously described to comprise a force stick to include a control and it's column which may be fixed or gimbal articulated to the aircraft's airftame, a means of operating said system in zero G 'g' to include orbital weightlessness.
2. 2. The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the force sensors are mounted at top and bottom of control handle or inertial primary flight control yoke to detect differential manual actuation forces as rotational demand forces which are translated into lateral control platform displacements as the aircraft changes attitude in pitch and roll.
3. 3. The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pilot is shown flying straight and level at raised altitude with the control in its raised central vertical position.
4. 4 The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inertial primary flight control yoke shows the tactile altitude drift display mounted on a far side handle from centre throttles.
5. 5. The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the human balance sensitive air/space craft primary flight control system powers hydraulic primary flight control via flexible hydraulic couplings.
6. 6. The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the PID control is maintained in dynamic repositioning by three or more telescopic servo hydraulic rams and coupled to a cockpit floor hence airframe
7. 7. The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the aircraft in climb with an upper portion of the gimballed jointed stick is being pulled back and lower portion aligned with the upright (44).
8. 8. The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stick is steadily forced right in a direction of lean and bank right.
9. 9. The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the aircraft attitude in roll with respect to the stick (50) displays zero displacement when flying straight and level.
10. 10. The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stick has 90 degree blind spot caused by servo mountings which lies well outside the normal flight envelope.
11. 11. The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tactile altitude drift display of aircraft rotation is incorporated in the top of stick or inertial primary flight control yoke handle which indicates aircraft yaw and spins in the same direction as tailspin in the event of stall.
12. 12. The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rotational displacement of the force stick is maintained in Earth's zero azimuth by angular displacement gyro and servo.
13. 13. The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a switched flight mode is provided to reverse the counter-force action of the stick.
14. 14. The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the HD control is shown in lower position with corrective manual rotation and translational forces.IS. The flight control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the PID control is maximally displaced in the climb with clockwise aircraft rotation, control movement and forces.