Professor Naira Hovakimyan and her research team have developed a predictable, reliable, repeatable, and safe flight control system that was successfully tested for the first time on a manned aircraft—representing an important step toward the introduction of the technology into commercial aviation.
PHYS.ORG (March 20)
“Commercial air travel safety could see significant improvements thanks to a breakthrough in aircraft flight control technology from researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.”
Read more at: phys.org
Eurek Alert! (March 19)
“After just two days of testing above 10,000 ft., the evaluation team deemed the system safe for low-altitude flight, and executed a total of eight touch-and-go landings with the L1 controller engaged, with and without injected aircraft failures.”
Read more at:Eurek Alert!
Inside Edwards (Air Force Base; March 11)
“One of the things that makes this particular controller special is that it’s predictable and the results are repeatable. The flight crew is able to determine how much error the controller can handle before take-off.”
Read more at: Inside Edwards
Product Design & Development (March 20)
“All of these flight tests serve as in-flight validation of the underlying mathematical theory, which provides guaranteed, consistent, and uniform performance, regardless of the nature of the failure configuration. …The implications for both airplane safety and new aircraft R&D are dramatic.”
Read more at: Product Design & Development
Aerospace-Technology.com (London, March 23)
“Hovakimyan’s L1 flight control system is said to be the only one selected by pilots for stall and post-stall flight conditions.”
Read more at: Aerospace-Technology.com
Aviation Week & Space Technology (April 6)
“An adaptive flight controller that could help pilots save a critically damaged or out-of-control aircraft is being proposed for possible commercial development following a rigorous evaluation by U.S. Air Force Test Pilots School (TPS) students here, using Calspan’s variable-stability Learjet 24 test aircraft. The L1 controller is designed to automatically intervene in the case of control problems, immediately reconfiguring the flight control system to compensate for degraded flying …”
Read more at: Aviation Week
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