Systems and methods for determining aircraft center-of-gravity

A three-dimensional center-of-gravity system for an aircraft, the system comprising:

• a plurality of landing gears, each landing gear including:
• a force sensor in the landing gear for measuring a ground reaction force on the landing gear;
• a strut controllable to position the aircraft in a tilted position by rotating the aircraft;
• and
• a module operatively connected to the struts and the force sensors of the plurality of landing gears for:
• determining, from ground reaction forces measured by the force sensors with the aircraft in an un-tilted position, a first center gravity location for the aircraft in a first plane defined by a first axis and a second axis;
• controlling the struts to rotate the aircraft by an angle about one of the first axis and second axis to the tilted position;
• determining, from ground reaction forces measured by the force sensors with the aircraft in the tilted position, a second center of gravity location in the first plane for the tilted aircraft;
• comparing the first center-of-gravity location to the second center-of-gravity location to determine a component of the first center-of-gravity location along a third axis defined out-of-plane from the first plane to determine a three-dimensional center-of-gravity location of the aircraft;
• and
• moving a load of the aircraft to a location along the third axis that provides stability for horizontal and vertical flight modes, based on the component of the first center-of-gravity location along the third axis.

A VTOL aircraft, comprising:

• a fuselage defining a vertical axis;
• a pair of main wings extending opposite from one another radially outward from the fuselage in a lateral direction with respect to the vertical axis, wherein the main wings define a longitudinal axis;
• a plurality of landing gears, each landing gear operatively connected to at least one of the main wings or the fuselage;
• and
• a three-dimensional center-of-gravity system including:
• a plurality of force sensors, each force sensor operatively connected to a respective one of the landing gears for measuring a ground reaction force on the landing gear;
• and
• a plurality of struts, each strut operatively connected to a respective one of the landing gears and controllable to position the aircraft in a tilted position by rotating the aircraft;
• and
• a module operatively connected to the plurality of force sensors and the plurality of struts, the module configured to:
• determine, from ground reaction forces measured by the plurality of force sensors with the aircraft in an un-tilted position, a first center gravity location for the aircraft in a first plane defined by a first axis and a second axis;
• control the struts to rotate the aircraft by an angle about one of the first axis and second axis to the tilted position;
• determine, from ground reaction forces measured by the force sensors with the aircraft in the tilted position, a second center of gravity location in the first plane for the tilted aircraft;
• compare the first center-of-gravity location to the second center-of-gravity location to determine a component of the first center-of-gravity location along a fuselage axis to determine a three-dimensional center-of-gravity of the aircraft;
• and
• move a load of the aircraft to a location along the third axis that provides stability for horizontal and vertical flight modes, based on the component of the first center-of-gravity location along the third axis.