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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1325.PDF
Above, the entirely new pilot's controller for the Smiths SEP.4& autopilot; above right, the controller for the Universal Autopilot made by Sperry Pheonix and exhibited at Farnborough for the first time; right, the Sperry SP-3 autopilot for business aircraft, showing the pilot's controller and the 3-axes computer actuators (from one of which the cover is removed) ROUND THE STANDS... Flight Control Systems "ONE cannot produce a new autopilot every year," said MrA. M. A. Majendie of Smiths, and this can be taken as a fair first view of the autopilot constructors at the Show. There is little reallynew at first sight, but from discussions with Elliotts, Newmark. Smiths and Sperry there came clear evidence cf good, sound pro-gress over an enormous range of automatic flight control equipment. British autopilot constructors are taking wide advantage of Americaneagerness to get into European and Commonwealth markets by establishing new licensing agreements, particularly in connectionwith light-weight autopilots, about which there was much to say at the Show. The advent of these autopilots also marks the begin-ning of a division between those autopilots intended as light-weight, adaptable, general purpose systems for executive and trainingaircraft and the sophisticated systems of the VC10 and de Havilland Trident generation which show distinct developments towards astate where aircraft will become tailored to an operational require- ment which is postulated by a centralized and automatic flightmanagement system. Sperry had the SP-3 light-weight autopilot on display and MrJ. S. King, their assistant sales manager, described the "building- block" principle of its construction. Either single, double, or tripleflight axes control can be installed as required by an individual customer. The system was developed by Sperry Phoenix in the USAand has been designated for the Beagle 206 and the Short SC.7 Skyvan. The SP-3 on show consisted of the summation of theindividual SP-1, 1A, 2 and 2A facilities which are the designations of each "building block." SP-1 consists of a solid-state poweradapter with voltage regulating circuits, a pilot's on-off switch, panel-mounted directional gyro for yaw stabilization and the ruddercomputer actuator. The SP-1 A offers stabilization by ailerons as opposed to the rudder stabilization of the SP-1 and includesautomatic heading hold. Advancing through the range the SP-2 gives pitch and roll stabilization by aileron and elevator, the 2Ahas the addition of automatic heading hold, whilst the SP-3 is the full three axes autopilot. Coupled ILS is being developed as afacility to be offered shortly. The total weight of the SP-3 system is quoted as 27.51b and is offered at under £2,000. Sperry had a "Universal Autopilot" on show, also of US design,which arose from a US Army requirement for an autopilot which would control all their vehicles; helicopters, drones, fixed wingaircraft and tanks. The build-up system gives the facilities required in each vehicle up to and including 5 axes helicopter control. Theneat pilot's controller of this autopilot which was on show, with its concise, positive action, is a pleasure to operate. The Sperry magnetic storage drum on show has been developedfrom work on GPO subscriber trunk dialling and offers a range of compact, high-speed, digital stores. The rotor diameter is only3in but can provide up to 68 tracks. Sperry offer to undertake to manufacture drum units to customer requirements complete withpermanent waveforms written on the drum. One application offered is the storage of flight plan information, although the D2 hasbeen used in the experimental Decca Omnitrack. Near at hand the Newmark stand had a number of interestingdevelopments on display. The company has now had 3 years' service experience on its Sea Vixen autopilot but the new packagingtechniques described by Mr Don King, Newmark development engineer, were a most interesting feature. The modules allow tightpackaging of delicate components and the transistor cards form the sealed faces of the cells of the modules. They will form thebasic units of the transistorized autopilot which Newmark aim to have in production within the next two years for a British helicopter. Newmark also had on show a sub-miniature rate gyro. This isbased on a Lear design and will be in production in this country next year. It is regarded as an essential requirement in the processof microminiaturization but, to combat the problems of providing a rugged design, it was tested in the unit on show by providinga relatively heavy frame to support the gimbal. The microsyn pick off converts the angular displacement of the gimbal into theelectrical signal which is linear to the gimbal displacement. The unit only requires 20sec run-up time and is already offered witha minimum of 1,000hr between overhauls. Smiths Aviation Division had an impressive display of theirprogress on the SEP.4, SEP.5 autopilots and the work on the para-visual director. The SEP.4B pilot's controller was on show forthe first time, part of a system which offers single-channel Auto- land. Prototype equipment is to be fitted to the Transall AT. 160aircraft of the German Air Force and evaluation is to be carried out on Noratlas and Argosy transports. Production is scheduledfor 1962. The particular feature of this autopilot is that no command can be put into the autopilot without appearing on the flight systemdisplay. A radio switching unit can be designated as part of the system if required by the operator. This box handles all the radioswitching in the aircraft from VOR, ILS, etc, and the packaging has been achieved by substantial use of Smiths micro relay. The SEP.5 designated for the Trident and the Belfast has beenon show now for two years but substantial development is being carried out under the auspices of Smiths and the MoA on a Comet2E. Some 150hr of high speed, approach and radio-coupling flying have now been completed on this aircraft's prototype multiplexequipment. Mr Kenneth Dowell, Smiths autopilot sales engineer, describedthe advances made in the PVD evaluation since last year. Trial installations have been made on a KLM DC-8 and the BoeingCompany are "actively interested." BEA are using the PVD in a Whirlwind helicopter for collective pitch information, whilst BOACare to take delivery of a trial installation for a Boeing 707. The Smiths air data computer on show for the Trident was thelatest of nine different versions so far made in the course of ADC development. All are centred round the force-balance unit and thevariations between each primarily concern the numbers and types of outputs required by manufacturers of ancillary equipment. Oneof the range is being considered for a NATO supersonic bomber but further details could not be disclosed. Smiths are also in the light-weight autopilot field and Mr FrankKing described the plans to make the Motorola M.4 under licence in the UK. This he considered an ideal autopilot for the growingexecutive aircraft market, in particular for the Beagle range. The autopilot can offer three axes control, plus manoeuvre control,height lock, VOR and ILS coupling and the pleasant addition of yaw damping. Turning to Elliotts the theme of their display was "Automationfrom Take-off to Touch-down." The equipment on display in both civil and military fields offered fully automatic flying and indeedthe range of automated facilities offered to aviation covered every- thing from seat reservations to automatic landing. The divisional manager of Elliotts Transport Aircraft ControlDivision, Mr Ron Howard, described the completion of the develop- ment of the VC10 monitored duplicate system, which is basicallydesigned to provide fault-survival capability. This is considered by Elliotts to provide the best practical solution to maintainingmultiple autopilot systems in a satisfactory service state. Elliotts had on display the auto-changeover relay which per-forms the function of reliably switching out a failed system and engaging the second autopilot system instantaneously and withoutflight path disturbance. The unit is in fact a highly reliable relay with the sections associated with the two autopilots stringentlyseparated. The relay contacts are magnetically operated and sealed
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