Re:Larry Page is pouring millions into flying cars
by Pyxl101 on Friday December 30, 2016 @05:08PM
(#13287904)
Yes, I've wondered that.
Why not provide a joystick for translation motion, rudder pedals for rotation, and a lever for ascending and descending? Allow the human to provide simple inputs, like: tilt the stick forward to go forward. No other inputs required. Aircraft will remain at the same altitude while it tilts forward and gains airspeed.
The computer consumes all of these controls, understands what the human wants to do, and then makes the necessary low-level adjustments. I suppose one obstacle to this plan is that the helicopter would need to be entirely fly-by-wire, and there would be no fallback to manual control. This would likely make the helicopter more complex and expensive.
Re:Larry Page is pouring millions into flying cars
by ridgeguy on Friday December 30, 2016 @06:51PM
(#13288523)
Helicopters do have sophisticated automatic flight control systems. A brief blurb describing some aspects:
http://www.helicoptermaintenancemagazine.com/article/underst...
They're easier to fly because they have software providing artificial stability. If you had to control each rotor individually it would be virtually impossible. There's no reason in principle why a helicopter couldn't have similarly straightforward controls.