Emergency Flight Planning with a Reduced Performance Design

Professor Ella M. Atkins

University of Michigan

Department of Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

Flight management systems are highly capable in nominal conditions but are unable to manage most emergency situations, particularly when the performance envelope is degraded due to damage or component failures. Emerging adaptive control and system identification technologies can maintain stable flight given reduced performance, but the pilot must assume the responsibility of guiding the disabled aircraft to a safe landing. With a highly restricted envelope, the family of feasible trajectories may be so unintuitive that a pilot may not be capable of identifying a safe landing flight plan given current high-level automation aids. I will present an adaptive flight planner to build landing trajectories for disabled aircraft. Trimmed (non-accelerating) flight conditions define the post-damage flight envelope. Nearby landing runways are prioritized and segmented trajectories to the top-priority sites are defined by trim state and transition sequences. A series of case studies will be presented in which performance is compromised by loss of thrust, control surface jams, and wing damage.

Friday, March 30, 2007

3:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Rm. 1500 EECS