System and Method for Rotorcraft-Weight-on-Wheels Flight State Transition Control

A flight control computer (FCC) for a rotorcraft, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program to be executed by the processor, the program including instructions for:
• receiving one or more signals indicating a weight on wheels (WOW) count associated with a number wheels of the rotorcraft that bear weight of the rotorcraft;
• providing a first set of integrators in a first set of hold loops that generate first control augmentation signals for a flight system of the rotorcraft;
• providing a second set of integrators in a second set of hold loops that generate second control augmentation signals for the flight system;
• maintaining a WOW state machine having at least a single gear state and an in transit state;
• determining an active WOW state of the WOW state machine according to at least the WOW count;
• freezing the first set of integrators in response to determining that the single gear state is the active WOW state, wherein the first set of hold loops generate the first control augmentation signals according to first values provided by the first set of integrators when the first set of integrators are frozen;
• and
• freezing the second set of integrators in response to determining that the in transit state is the active WOW state, wherein the second set of hold loops generate the second control augmentation signals according to second values provided by the second set of integrators when the second set of integrators are frozen.

A method for controlling a rotorcraft, comprising:

• maintaining a weight on wheels (WOW) state machine having at least a single gear state, an in transit state, and an on ground state;
• determining an active WOW state of the WOW state machine according to one or more signals indicating a WOW count associated with a number wheels of the rotorcraft that bear weight of the rotorcraft, wherein the determining the active WOW state comprises using the in transit state as a buffer for a transition between the single gear state and the on ground state;
• freezing a first set of integrators in a first set of hold loops operated by a flight control computer (FCC) in response to determining that the active WOW state is the single gear state;
• freezing a second set of integrators in a second set of hold loops operated by the FCC in response to determining that the active WOW state is the in transit state;
• unfreezing the first set of integrators and the second set of integrators when the active WOW state is the in flight state;
• and
• generating control signals according to values provided by the first set of integrators and the second set of integrators when the active WOW state is one of the single gear state, the in transit state, and the in flight state.