Preface: I'm a low airtime pilot currently working on a tailwheel rating. I'm also an electrical engineer.
What do people think about the idea of what I've been calling (to myself) an auto-rudder? Essentially, I envision a rudder controlled by a servomotor. In normal operation, it's run as a simple fly-by-wire control hooked up to a turn coordinator (accelerometer). The rudder moves to maintain a coordinated turn (or zero-yaw straight flight) automatically, with no pilot input.
As a further refinement, pilot input could be accepted (either by rudder pedals, or more simply by a twist stick) as a direct input for amount of yaw desired. So in the absence of input, coordinated flight results. A slip (or skid) can be requested in the normal manner, allowing full three-axis control to be maintained.
Things I wonder about:
1) How would this impact pilot workload? Seems like a big benefit to me.
2) How much more adverse yaw could be acceptable in a design? Getting the pilot-observed behavior of differential frise ailerons with normal ailerons seems to be a benefit in complexity, and possibly drag.
3) What limitations would you expect from such a system? Is there something I'm missing?
This seems well within the realm of reasonability for the typical home-built.
What do people think about the idea of what I've been calling (to myself) an auto-rudder? Essentially, I envision a rudder controlled by a servomotor. In normal operation, it's run as a simple fly-by-wire control hooked up to a turn coordinator (accelerometer). The rudder moves to maintain a coordinated turn (or zero-yaw straight flight) automatically, with no pilot input.
As a further refinement, pilot input could be accepted (either by rudder pedals, or more simply by a twist stick) as a direct input for amount of yaw desired. So in the absence of input, coordinated flight results. A slip (or skid) can be requested in the normal manner, allowing full three-axis control to be maintained.
Things I wonder about:
1) How would this impact pilot workload? Seems like a big benefit to me.
2) How much more adverse yaw could be acceptable in a design? Getting the pilot-observed behavior of differential frise ailerons with normal ailerons seems to be a benefit in complexity, and possibly drag.
3) What limitations would you expect from such a system? Is there something I'm missing?
This seems well within the realm of reasonability for the typical home-built.
