Flight investigation of a fluidic autopilot system
S. W. Gee, Wilton P. Lock · NASA Technical Reports Server (NASA) · 1969
A flight investigation was made of an experimental fluidic flight control system capable of various modes of operation, including altitude hold, heading hold, wings leveler, and turn control.flight conditions: cruise at 5000 feet, and cruise at 10,000 feet.The fluidic control system was tested in each mode at two Although stability problems were encountered early in the program, stable performance was achieved in each control mode for the flight conditions tested.liability was demonstrated, in that there were no failures with the fluidic elements themselves.mechanical fluidic components.High re-Failures were experienced, however, with the mechanical portion of the Flight investigation revealed a number of areas in which improvement is needed before the system can be considered operational.Aircraft altitude changes caused noticeable changes in the null of the fluidic components, and gain reduction with increased altitude was experienced with sensors and amplifiers.