Electric automatic pilots for aircraft

B. Levine (nonmember; Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio): This paper presents an excellent description of rate-type control as applied to automatic control of aircraft. The A-5 automatic pilot, about which the discussion presented in this paper was centered, was the first electric automatic pilot in this country utilizing this principle of control. Rate control has been attained in the past to a certain extent mechanically, or pneumatically; however, satisfactory operation is difficult to achieve due to the limitations and complexity of this type of rate follow-up system. This system is being utilized in this country in the type A-4 automatic pilot. A three-axis electric automatic pilot has been developed and is in use in Germany utilizing the rate principle of control. In this case, however, rate control is achieved through the use of three-rate gyroscopes whose signals are blended into the basic displacement signal electrically.