AV4509 - Automatic Flight Controls

Objectives

General objective:

At the end of this course, the student will be able to identify the airborne systems involved in aircraft control and guidance, explain their operating principles and architecture.

Detailed objectives:

The course focuses on the following systems:

Flight Guidance System (FGS), including autopilot (AP), flight director (FD) and auto-thrust (A/THR) functions
Electrical Flight Control System (EFCS)

At the end of this course the student will be able to:

Identify the system’s components, cockpit interfaces and interfaces with other systems
Explain the main functionalities and operational use of each system
Describe the control and guidance laws
Explain the protections mechanism of the flight envelope
Explain fault tolerant design principles and provide examples based on these systems
Explain the activities and test means required for the validation of these systems
Explain the design philosophy of these systems and the relevance of human factors in systems design

Hours

• Lecture : 12h
• Supervised Practical Work : 2h

Form of assessment

Total assessment hours: 1.5