The stability of an aircraft under automatic throttle control and the cross-coupling effects with elevator control

Abstract

The stability of an aircraft with automatic throttle and elevator controls has been investigated theoretically using an analogue computer. Throttle application proportional to change in airspeed,, incidence, or rate of pitch may provide damping of the long-period motion, but speed is shown to be the most suitable variable. The control of an aircraft having negative static margin is considered and shown to require either the addition of an integral control on the throttle or a combination of throttle and elevator controls Where it is required to control height by means of the elevator, some aircraft flying under certain conditions can only be adequately stabilised by means of an automatic throttle control.