Automatic Takeoff of a General Aviation Research Aircraft

The paper presents an automatic takeoff control system for a general aviation research aircraft, specifically a modified Diamond Aircraft Industries DA42 M-NG. The takeoff system is part of a modular control architecture, capable of full automatic flight from takeoff to landing. To conduct the takeoff, functionalities provided by existing modules of the control system were efficiently utilized. In the design, emphasis was placed on a safe activation and automatic abort criteria. The takeoff maneuver was split into distinct phases, which were implemented as states in a state machine. For each phase, the control modes and transition criteria are presented in detail. The proposed system was successfully demonstrated in several flight tests. The results show the performance of the system under real operating conditions. Building on an existing automatic control system, it is demonstrated that the automation of a takeoff can be accomplished without the need for dedicated controller design.