The Workings of Autopilot
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58445/rars.2197Keywords:
Autopilot, Plane, F16, PlanesAbstract
Autopilot is a tool that almost every flight uses. Virtually every modern aircraft has some level of automation and autopilot. Much research has been done on different varieties of autopilot and different effects it has on flights. Studies have shown that autopilot greatly increases the efficiency and confidence of the pilots in the plane and pilots feel safer knowing they have a button that they can press which will allow the plane to almost fly itself. However, most pilots don't know what happens when they press that magical “AP” button, and this paper aims to explain how autopilot and aircraft automation work.
References
Sources
Flightradar24, “Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map | Flightradar24,” Flightradar24, 2020. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/statistics
National Air and Space Museum, “The Wright Brothers,” airandspace.si.edu. https://airandspace.si.edu/explore/stories/wright-brothers
“Sperry Instrumentation: Shifting to Autopilot,” Lockheed Martin, 2018. https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/history/sperry.html
W. Scheck, “Lawrence Sperry: Genius on autopilot,” Army Times, Nov. 28, 2017. https://www.armytimes.com/veterans/2017/11/21/lawrence-sperry-genius-on-autopilot/ (accessed May 31, 2024).
M. C. Elish and T. Hwang, “Praise the Machine! Punish the Human! The Contradictory History of Accountability in Automated Aviation,” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015, doi: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2720477.
. Nicolin and A. Nicolin, "The fly-by-wire system," *INCAS Bulletin*, vol. 11, pp. 217-222, 2019, doi: 10.13111/2066-8201.2019.11.4.19.
“Concorde Fly by Wire,” heritage-concorde, 2016. https://www.heritageconcorde.com/fly-by-wire
C. Anderson, “DEVELOPMENT OF AN ACTIVE FLY-BY-WIRE FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM.” Available: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19760024050/downloads/19760024050.pdf
R. Tan and Z. Yao, “Research on Monte Carlo simulation of CAT III auto-landing system,” Journal of physics, vol. 2551, no. 1, pp. 012003–012003, Jul. 2023, doi: https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2551/1/012003.
“Effect of the autopilot on pilot performance during its approaches in general aviation technically advanced aircraft - ProQuest,” www.proquest.com. https://www.proquest.com/openview/345c8bd88a73e2ba4b1d6afc2bece7d6/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750 (accessed May 31, 2024).
“Understanding Garmin Electronic Stability and Protection (ESP),” Garmin Blog, Jan. 25, 2018. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/aviation/understanding-garmin-electronic-stability-protection-esp/
R. Hoh, J. Smith, and D. Hinton, “NASA Contractor i . The Effects of Display and Autopilot Functions on Pilot Workload for I I I Single U Pilot Instrument Flight n+lo,.,-,+;r,., n-uit: t.31 AI 1~) W~L I ULIVIIS I 1.” Available: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19870012488/downloads/19870012488.pdf
“Emergency Autoland | EASA Community,” www.easa.europa.eu. https://www.easa.europa.eu/community/topics/emergency-autoland-0
“NASA, Xwing to develop autonomous flight standards,” www.aopa.org, Oct. 13, 2022. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2022/october/13/nasa-xwing-develop-autonomy (accessed May 31, 2024).
“A step toward safe and reliable autopilots for flying,” MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jun. 12, 2023. https://news.mit.edu/2023/safe-and-reliable-autopilots-flying-0612
B. L. Stevens, F. L. Lewis, and E. N. Johnson, Aircraft control and simulation : dynamics, controls design, and autonomous systems. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2016.
Downloads
Posted
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Tomer Polak
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.