Decoupled hand controls for aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing and forward flight capabilities

A method, comprising:

• receiving a forward velocity associated with an aircraft, wherein the aircraft includes a multicopter with a plurality of rotors which rotate in a substantially horizontal plane;
• determining a pitch offset based at least in part on the forward velocity, wherein the pitch offset changes monotonically with the forward velocity;
• determining a desired pitch based at least in part on the pitch offset and a pitch angle specified via a three-axis hand control, wherein:
• the three-axis hand control is configured to control movement of the aircraft within a plane defined by a roll axis and a pitch axis as well as about a yaw axis;
• the three-axis hand control includes a fingertip joystick which is attached to a right armrest;
• and
• determine a plurality of control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired pitch and desired movement along a vertical axis, wherein the movement along the vertical axis is indicated by input received from a single-axis hand control, the single-axis hand control including a thumbwheel which is attached to a left handgrip.

A method, comprising:

• receiving a forward velocity and a roll angle associated with an aircraft, wherein the aircraft includes a multicopter with a plurality of rotors which rotate in a substantially horizontal plane;
• determining a yaw rate offset based at least in part on the forward velocity and the roll angle, wherein the yaw rate offset increases over a first forward velocity range and decreases over a second forward velocity range and the yaw rate offset changes monotonically with the roll angle;
• determining a desired yaw rate based at least in part on the yaw rate offset and a yaw rate specified via a three-axis hand control, wherein:
• the three-axis hand control is configured to control movement of the aircraft within a plane defined by a roll axis and a pitch axis as well as about a yaw axis;
• the three-axis hand control includes a fingertip joystick which is attached to a right armrest;
• and
• determining a plurality of control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired yaw rate and desired movement along a vertical axis, wherein the movement along the vertical axis is indicated by input received from a single-axis hand control, the single-axis hand control including a thumbwheel which is attached to a left handgrip.

A method, comprising:

• receiving a forward velocity and a yaw rate associated with an aircraft, wherein the aircraft includes a multicopter with a plurality of rotors which rotate in a substantially horizontal plane;
• determining a roll angle offset based at least in part on the forward velocity and the yaw rate;
• determining a desired roll angle based at least in part on the roll angle offset and a roll angle specified via a three-axis hand control, wherein:
• the three-axis hand control is configured to control movement of the aircraft within a plane defined by a roll axis and a pitch axis as well as about a yaw axis;
• the three-axis hand control includes a fingertip joystick which is attached to a right armrest;
• and
• determining a plurality of control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired roll angle and desired movement along a vertical axis, wherein the movement along the vertical axis is indicated by input received from a single axis-hand control, the single-axis hand control including a thumbwheel which is attached to a left handgrip.