Helicopter integrated fire and flight control having azimuth and pitch control

An aircraft flight control system for providing control surface command signals to the aircraft control surfaces thereby controlling the yaw, pitch, roll and lift attitude axes of the aircraft in flight, comprising:

• fire control means for providing an azimuth command signal and an elevation command signal respectively indicative of the change in aircraft yaw attitude and pitch attitude for an aircraft reference axis to be aligned with an aiming line of sight;
• switch means operable by a pilot;
• fire control status indicating means for providing a valid fire control signal indicative of said fire control means operating status being within specifications;
• means responsive to both said azimuth command signal and said elevation command signal being below respective threshold magnitudes for providing an enable signal;
• coupled aiming mode indicating means responsive to the presence of said valid fire control signal and said enable signal for providing said coupled aiming signal during continuous activation of said switch means, and responsive to the absence of either said enable signal, said valid fire control signal, or the deactivation of said switch means for removing said coupled aiming signal;
• and
• signal processing means responsive to the presence of said couple aiming signal for providing control surface command signals for driving the magnitude of said azimuth command signal and said elevation command signal to zero, thereby aligning said aircraft reference axis with said aiming line of sight.