An aircraft includes an airframe with a thrust array attached thereto. The thrust array includes a plurality of propulsion assemblies that are independently controlled by a flight control system. A landing gear assembly is coupled to the airframe and includes a plurality of landing feet. An altitude sensor array includes a plurality of altitude sensors each of which is disposed within one of the landing feet such that when the aircraft is in the VTOL orientation, the altitude sensor array is configured to obtain multifocal altitude data relative to a landing surface. The flight control system is configured to generate a three-dimensional terrain map of the surface based upon the multifocal altitude data.

A system for flight tracking of an electric aircraft is presented. A system includes a non-volatile data storage unit. A non-volatile data storage unit is housed within a protective barrier of an electric aircraft. A non-volatile data storage unit is configured to receive flight data of an electric aircraft from a computing device. A non-volatile data storage unit is configured to record flight data. A non-volatile data storage unit is configured to categorize flight data to at least two flight data groups. A system includes a computing device. A computing device is housed within an electric aircraft. A computing device is configured to receive flight data from at least a sensor of an electric aircraft. A computing device is configured to convey flight data to a non-volatile data storage unit. A computing device is configured to transmit flight data to at least an external computing device.

Systems and methods for lag optimization of pilot intervention is provided. A critical event may be identified while an electric aircraft is in an autopilot mode and operating primarily under autonomous functions; as a result, a flight controller of the system may switch from an autopilot mode to a manual mode, allowing pilot intervention. System made determine a lag duration as a function of the critical event and a phase of operation of the electric aircraft to determine a lag duration before pilot intervention occurs.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a stand for launching, landing, testing, refueling and recharging a UAV, and methods for testing, landing and launching the UAV are disclosed. Further, embodiments may include transferring a payload onto or off of the UAV, and loading flight planning and diagnostic maintenance information to the UAV.

Systems, devices, and methods that may include: determining one or more take-off variables for a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aerial vehicle; increasing an altitude of the VTOL aerial vehicle to a first altitude, where increasing the altitude comprises substantially vertical flight of the VTOL aerial vehicle; performing a first pre-rotation check of the VTOL aerial vehicle; adjusting a pitch of the VTOL aerial vehicle to a first pitch angle via motor control; adjusting the pitch of the VTOL aerial vehicle to a second pitch angle via at least one of: motor control and one or more effectors; and adjusting the pitch of the VTOL aerial vehicle to a third pitch angle via the one or more effectors, where the third pitch angle is substantially perpendicular to a vertical plane.

A system for initiating a command of an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft includes a flight controller configured to receive a topographical datum, receive a sensor datum from a sensor, identify an air position as a function of the sensor datum and the topographical datum, determine a command, including an actuator command, as a function of the identified air position and the determining of the command includes identifying at least one flight component of the eVTOL aircraft to be adjusted to perform the determined command, and initiate the command to adjust the identified flight component.

A method and an apparatus for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) are provided. The UAV comprises at least one rotor. The method includes: receiving a take-off preparatory signal instructing the UAV to enter into a take-off preparatory state; controlling the at least one rotor of the UAV to rotate at a preset rotation speed in response to the take-off preparatory signal, wherein the preset rotation speed is smaller than a rotation speed that enables the UAV to hover in the air; and controlling the UAV to enter into a hovering mode under a predetermined condition, wherein the UAV is controlled to hover at a predetermined height in the hovering mode.

A method for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is provided. The UAV comprises at least one rotor. The method includes receiving a take-off signal; initiating the at least one rotor to operate with a first preset rotation acceleration in response to the take-off signal; detecting a take-off status information of the UAV, the take-off status information at least comprising a current height of the UAV; determining whether the detected current height of the UAV is equal to or greater than a threshold; and sending a hover signal to the at least one rotor to enable the UAV to hover in the current height in response to the determination that the detected current height of the UAV is equal to or greater than the threshold.

A flight controller of a drone calculates a target attitude of the drone on a port based on the result of acquisition by an anemometer. The flight controller of the drone controls each of a plurality of rotors independently, and controls each of the rotors so as to make the drone on the port take a target attitude.

Methods, systems and apparatus for the deployment and retrieval of child UAVs from a V-TOL UAV Mothership. The Mothership may be piloted from a base station to one or more destination locations. At the destination location, one or more child UAVs may be deployed from a cargo bay module. The child UAVs perform tasks or complete a mission before coordinating their retrieval with the V-TOL UAV Mothership. The Mothership may plan an intercept course to retrieve the child UAVs in mid-flight or coordinate a hovering type retrieval with the child UAVs. The child UAVs are retrieved through an actuated frontal opening which provides access to the cargo bay without having to navigate through turbulence created beneath the hovering Mothership by the vertical thrust rotors.