Using an Autopilot System for Simplified Vehicle Operations in General Aviation

The general aviation industry suffers from high rates of fatalities due to loss of control. This papers provides a method to implement a simplified vehicle operations (SVO) scheme using an autopilot system to create a pilot-on-the-loop controller. With this scheme, the pilot controls turn rate and climb rate instead of bank angle and pitch attitude. A Raspberry Pi is used with a software package to interface with the autopilot system. Any type of controller or joystick can be used to translate pilot inputs into readable autopilot commands. The readable commands are generated in ARINC 429 format. The control logic takes in current autopilot flight state data from the aircraft, combines it with pilot joystick inputs, and generates heading and vertical speed commands for transmission to the autopilot system. Ground testing was performed before flight testing to ensure that each major component of the software was functioning properly. Novice pilots were used to evaluate the effectiveness of this hybrid fly-by-wire concept. This research demonstrates the development of one SVO scheme that can help create safer practices in the general aviation industry.