Restructurable controls for aircraft

Abstract

Future aircraft with highly sophisticated controls are likely to have multiple interdependent failure modes which will be difficult for the pilot to recognize. Such failures may lead to unanticipated sequences of events from which the pilot cannot intuitively recover. Advances in the state-of-the-art in failure detection, failure identification, and control system technology suggest it may be feasible to detect and identify potentially catastrophic failures in flight controls and to restructure the controls in real time to execute a safe landing. Two accidents are reviewed, one in which the pilot successfully restructured the controls and one in which he did not, but for which a solution existed. The problem requirements and potential theoretical techniques which apply are also discussed.