A method for alleviating and protecting loads of a lifting surface of an aircraft based on control of structural distortions of the lifting surface. The lifting surface includes a control surface, a maneuvering system for displacing the control surface and sensors which measure a dimensional characteristic linked to the distortion of the lifting surface. The method acquires characteristic data linked to the distortion of the lifting surface, determines a set of values of the shape, analyzes the value of the strain attribute and compares the set of values characterizing the shape to the values of the tolerance interval associated with the lifting surface. If the set of values characterizing the shape is outside of the interval, the process triggers an activation of the maneuvering system to displace the control surface from an initial position in order to alleviate the loads on the lifting surface.

A fixed-wing aircraft and flight control method and system thereof are provided. The flight control method includes steps of: setting a landing site of the fixed-wing aircraft; calculating a landing runway which starts from a runway origin and ends at the landing site and is formed by alternately connecting horizontal runways with inclined runways, wherein a horizontal distance between the runway origin and the landing site is determined according to a type of the fixed-wing aircraft, and a descent rate coefficient of the inclined runways varies with a horizontal length of the inclined runways; obtaining a current location of the fixed-wing aircraft and calculating a return route which starts from the current location of the fixed-wing aircraft and ends at the runway origin; and forming a return flight line by combining the return route with the landing runway.

A method of optimizing a cruise climb of an aircraft. The method includes using vertical navigation and lateral navigation to track the cruise climb; and using tracking of the cruise climb to adjust a climb rate of the aircraft to match an optimal climb rate.

Embodiments include apparatus and methods for determining link level wind factors and providing routes for drones based on the wind factors. At least a portion of the route corresponds to airspace above a road network. Wind factor values are assigned to a range of altitudes of drone air space above a road link of the road network based on a wind model and stored in a database. The wind model is applied to a location based on wind condition data and three-dimensional (3D) features from 3D map data associated with the location. The route is optimized based on the determined wind factors.

System and techniques for drone obstacle avoidance using real-time wind estimation are described herein. A wind metric is measures at a first drone and communicated to a second drone. In response to receiving the wind metric, a flight plan of the second drone is modified based on the wind metric.

A flight control apparatus that prevents an unmanned aerial vehicle from deviating from a predetermined flight-permitted area and is able to forcibly restrain it even when abnormality is present in the flight environment and the operation of the respective mechanisms of the vehicle, and an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with this apparatus. The apparatus includes current position acquiring means for acquiring a flight position of the vehicle, flight-permitted area storing means, and deviation preventing means, wherein it forcibly makes the body unable to fly when: the current position acquiring means has become unable to acquire the position of the body, the flight position of the body is in the vicinity of the boundaries between the flight-permitted area and space external thereto or keeps out of the flight-permitted area for a predetermined time or longer, or the body has moved away a predetermined distance or more from the flight-permitted area.

A flight control apparatus that prevents an unmanned aerial vehicle from deviating from a predetermined flight-permitted area and is able to forcibly restrain it even when abnormality is present in the flight environment and the operation of the respective mechanisms of the vehicle, and an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with this apparatus. The apparatus includes current position acquiring means for acquiring a flight position of the vehicle, flight-permitted area storing means, and deviation preventing means, wherein it forcibly makes the body unable to fly when: the current position acquiring means has become unable to acquire the position of the body, the flight position of the body is in the vicinity of the boundaries between the flight-permitted area and space external thereto or keeps out of the flight-permitted area for a predetermined time or longer, or the body has moved away a predetermined distance or more from the flight-permitted area.

A method of optimizing a cruise climb of an aircraft. The method includes using vertical navigation and lateral navigation to track the cruise climb; and using tracking of the cruise climb to adjust a climb rate of the aircraft to match an optimal climb rate.

A fixed-wing aircraft and flight control method and system thereof are provided. The flight control method includes steps of: setting a landing site of the fixed-wing aircraft; calculating a landing runway which starts from a runway origin and ends at the landing site and is formed by alternately connecting horizontal runways with inclined runways, wherein a horizontal distance between the runway origin and the landing site is determined according to a type of the fixed-wing aircraft, and a descent rate coefficient of the inclined runways varies with a horizontal length of the inclined runways; obtaining a current location of the fixed-wing aircraft and calculating a return route which starts from the current location of the fixed-wing aircraft and ends at the runway origin; and forming a return flight line by combining the return route with the landing runway.