A hover and thrust control assembly for dual-mode aircraft including a plurality of flight components mechanically coupled to an aircraft includes a support structure attached to an aircraft frame of an aircraft having a control stick coupled to the support structure. The control stick may include a length and radius and configured to be manipulated along a plurality of axes, wherein the manipulation of the control stick produces an electronic signal, wherein the control stick is further configured to be manipulated rotationally about the length of the control stick. A first interface device disposed on the control stick may be configured to receive an interaction and adjust a lift of the dual-mode aircraft as a function of the interaction. A second interface device may be configured to receive an interaction and adjust the lift of the dual-mode aircraft as a function of the interaction.

Some aspects relate to systems and methods for fly-by-wire reversionary flight control including a pilot control, a plurality of sensors configured to: sense control data associated with the pilot control, and transmit the control data, a first actuator communicative with the plurality of sensors configured to receive the control data, determine a first command datum as a function of the control data and a distributed control algorithm, and actuate a first control element according to the first command datum.

An aircraft having a fuselage with one or more wings coupled to the fuselage. A pair of booms are attached to the one or more wings. Each boom has a front end coupled with a front propulsion system and a rear end coupled with a rear propulsion system. Each front propulsion system includes a front motor coupled with a foldable front propeller in a tractor configuration. Each rear propulsion system includes a rear motor coupled with a foldable rear propeller in a pusher configuration.

An aircraft is configured with a propulsion system having a rotor with both cyclic and collective control, and an axis of rotation about which the propulsion system rotates with respect to the fuselage. A control system is configured to use torque generated through cyclic control of the rotor to reposition the propulsion system around the axis of rotation without the need for an independent actuator mechanism to rotate the propulsion system, thus reducing the weight and mechanical complexity of the aircraft. The control system may also utilize the torque provided by one or more rotors to position one or more wings with respect to the airflow over the aircraft, exerting torque on the aircraft to control the direction of the aircraft.

In accordance with an embodiment, a method of operating an aircraft includes operating the aircraft in a first mode including determining an attitude based on a pilot stick signal, where a translational speed or an attitude of the aircraft is proportional to an amplitude of the pilot stick signal in the first mode; transitioning from the first mode to a second mode when a velocity of the aircraft exceeds a first velocity threshold; and operating the aircraft in the second mode where the output of the rate controller is proportional to the amplitude of the pilot stick signal.

A control system for an aircraft, the system including a pilot input device configured to receive a pilot input, a plurality of sensors, each of the plurality of sensors positioned on a corresponding landing gear of the aircraft and configured to sense a parameter on the corresponding landing gear, and a controller in communication with the plurality of sensors, the controller configured to calculate an output command based on the pilot input and the sensed parameters of the landing gear, the output command including instructions for controlling a rotor of the aircraft.

Embodiments are directed to systems and methods for utilizing a two-degree-of-freedom model-following control law within an architecture of nested loop functions. This allows for the separation of command and feedback path requirements and enables the restrictions of the inner loops to be applied to the outer loop feedbacks. This method of restriction allows a better allocation of coordinated authority between the loops.

A communication system includes a vehicle communication assembly connected to a vehicle, including a transmitter and a receiver, and configured to wirelessly communicate with a remote entity, and a processing device and a memory coupled to the processing device. The memory includes computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processing device, cause the processing device to receive a wireless signal including a speech communication from the remote entity at the receiver, analyze the wireless signal by a speech recognition module to identify the speech communication, and recognize a known directive within the speech communication based on stored contextual information. The instructions also cause the processing device to, based on recognizing the known directive, present a textual representation of the known directive to a user of the vehicle, and determine that the processing device correctly recognized the known directive based on detecting an input from the user verifying the known directive.

According to an aspect, a computer-implemented method for water volume estimation includes detecting water based at least in part on sensor-based data; determining a volume of water based at least in part on the sensor-based data; determining a location at the water for an aircraft to retrieve water via a water retrieving apparatus; and translating the location of the water into pilot inputs to guide the aircraft to the water.

A system for flight control for managing actuators for an electric aircraft is provided. The system includes a controller, wherein the controller is designed and configured to receive a sensor datum from at least a sensor, generate an actuator performance model as a function of the sensor datum, identify a defunct actuator of the electric aircraft as a function of the sensor datum and the actuator performance model, generate an actuator allocation command datum as a function of at least the actuator performance model and at least the identification of the defunct actuator, and perform a torque allocation as a function of the actuator allocation command datum.