Enhanced flight mode

Abstract

During aircraft descent, flight control systems seek and maintain a glide slope determined from a single pilot input parameter; e.g., the position of a control axis of a flight stick. Appropriate guide slope selection by the pilot is readily determined from the pilot's visual observation of an intended landing site during landing approach. The glide slope defines a ratio of forward speed and descent speed which is automatically established and maintained/updated according to pilot input while these speeds are also automatically reduced during descent, despite the two speed directions respectively being affected distinctly and differently by aircraft mechanisms which control them. The aircraft ends its glide path with speed at or near zero, allowing landing by short vertical descent. Accordingly, the pilot offloads problems of both coordinating speeds to achieve a particular guide slope, and reducing them while maintaining this coordination.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.