There’s a saying in aviation, “Flying is
the 2nd greatest thrill known to man. Landing is the 1st.” This is because landing along with takeoff is
a very dynamic part of a flight, and often the most dynamic part of a flight. Pilots are often talking to approach or tower
controllers, running checklists, scanning gauges, and physically controlling
the aircraft during this part of flight.
Even in the early years of aviation, inventors and engineers have sought
to ease the demands of an aviator, and this was seen as early only about 10
years after the Wright Brothers first flight, with Elmer Sperry’s
gyrostabilizer, (Elmer Sperry, Sr., 2016).
The world of aviation has seen many changes from the early days of
flight, but engineers still face many challenges including automation.
For pilots, talks of automation in
takeoff and landing can be a touchy subject for those who pride themselves on
being able to land an airplane with hand-eye skills. The Airbus A320 is capable of taking off and
landing through automation. Once the
pilot has aligned the aircraft for the approach, speed is adjusted through an
auto-throttle system, in where the pilot turns a dial to select an indicated
speed and the aircraft adjusts the throttle levers accordingly, (Airbus A320:
Auto Landing Tutorial, 2012). Once the
appropriate speed is set and the navigation aid (NAVAID) is selected, the
approach button can be depressed, (Airbus A320: Auto Landing Tutorial, 2012). During all of these processes the pilot is
still receiving information from the aircraft and NAVAID and should be backing
up the automation by checking the speed, ensuring NAVAID guidance is being
received. Once the glideslope is
intercepted the pilot will further input the final approach speed, lower the
landing gear, set the flaps, and set the spoilers and autobrakes, (Airbus A320:
Auto Landing Tutorial, 2012). The pilot
will leave their hands on the power lever in the event of a go around, (Airbus
A320: Auto Landing Tutorial, 2012).
This system helps to alleviate the
additional demands put on a pilot in the terminal by automating parts of the
evolution, allowing the pilots to focus on things such as navigation (visual),
and communication. The system in the
A320 is capable of flying in a zero vertical visibility and 50 meter horizontal
visibility situation, (Airbus A320: Auto Landing Tutorial, 2012). With the automated system taking care of the
aviation portion of the evolution, the pilot must never forget the basics of,
“aviate, navigate, communicate.” This is
the priority of skills often taught to aviators early in flight training. This being said the pilot is always there in
the cockpit ready to take control if required or making the judgement call for
a go around.
These systems have also found their
way in to unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
The MQ-9 Reaper, remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), boasted in September
2012 that it had, “successfully completed 106 full-stop Automatic Takeoff and
Landing Capability (ATLC) landings, a first for the multi-mission aircraft. The
milestone was first achieved with four ATLC landings on June 27 at the
company’s Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif,” (Predator
B Demonstrates Automatic Takeoff and Landing Capability, 2012). Other systems have been created to assist in
this process since in its simplest for the computer is simply following a
predefined flight path. “The Visually
Assisted Landing System (VALS), lets the drones use their cameras to identify
landmarks, adjust speed and direction accordingly, and navigate to a smooth
landing. And since runways are clearly defined, flat, obvious pieces of
topography, identifying them should be easier… By utilizing the
drones existing cameras, the system can be used for both the larger UAVs like
the Predator, and smaller drones like the Scan Eagle,” (Fox, 2009).
FIGURE 1. Vision
based landing technology called The Visually Assisted Landing System
(VALS). Courtesy of Popular Science.
Both manned and RPA can be equipped
with systems that can follow a preset published approach to get back on the
ground. But, an RPA is missing one key
thing that manned aircraft has, a pilot in the aircraft making judgment calls
based on what they are seeing and feeling.
While a RPA operator can see and make decisions, these are typically in
a limited field of view and are subject to communications links. If a communication link is broken, the RPA
operator is now, for all intents and purposes, blind. “Vision-based landing has been found
attractive since it is passive and does not require any special equipment other
than a camera and a vision processing unit onboard,” (Huh, 2010). A visual based system would let the RPA make
a split second decision such as a go around due to reduced visibility or a
fouled runway.
While aviation has made major
changes from its beginnings in 1903, we still face the some of the same basic
issues, of trying to find ways to assist the pilot to make aviation safer and
easier. We have even gone so far to pull
the pilot out of the aircraft, but still face some of the same issues.
References
Airbus A320: Auto Landing Tutorial. (2012
Apr 6). BAA Training. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIaMALJjOEc
Elmer Sperry, Sr.. (2016 Apr 27). The
National Aviation Hall of Fame. Retrieved from http://www.nationalaviation.org/sperry-sr-elmer/
Fox, S. (2009 Aug 4). Popular Science.
Retrieved from http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-08/new-system-allow-automated-predator-drone-landings
Huh, S., & Shim, D. H. (2010). A
vision-based automatic landing method for fixed-wing UAVs. Journal of
Intelligent and Robotic Systems, 57(1), 217-231. doi:10.1007/s10846-009-9382-2.
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/873356418?pq-origsite=summon
Predator B Demonstrates Automatic Takeoff and
Landing Capability. (2012 Sep 17). General Atomics Aeronautical. Retrieved from
http://www.ga-asi.com/predator-b-demonstrates-automatic-takeoff-and-landing-capability
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