Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T03:13:01.011Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Aircrew and Automation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1985

Extract

On 18 June, 1914 Lawrence, son of Elmer Sperry (founder of the Sperry Gyroscope Company) flew over a crowd assembled at Argenteuil, near Paris (Fig. 1). His aircraft was a Curtiss C2 flying boat and the purpose of the flight was to demonstrate the Sperry Gyroscopic Stabilizer in a competition organized by the Aero Club of France. It was a dramatic demonstration. On the first pass over the crowd Lawrence Sperry stood up and held both hands in the air whilst his mechanic, Emile Cachin, walked out on the wing and stood holding one of the struts. The lateral stability of the aeroplane was undisturbed, but the spectators were able to see the ailerons move to compensate for the engineer's weight. This performance was repeated several times and Sperry also demonstrated the automatic ‘volplaning’ function of the system which caused the aircraft to dive and regain speed in the event of an approach to the stall. The company was awarded a prize of 50000 francs as winner of the competition.

Type
Presidential Address
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1Elmer Sperry, Inventor and Engineer, by Thomas Parke, Hughes. Johns Hopkins Press. 1971.Google Scholar
2Gyro, by William Wyatt, Davenport. New York: Charles Scribners Sons. 1978.Google Scholar
3Draper, C. S. (1955). Flight control. 43rd Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture. J. R. aero. Soc., 59, 451.Google Scholar
4Chorley, R. A. (1976). Seventy years of flight instruments and display. J. R. aero. Soc, 80, 323.Google Scholar
5Stringer, F. S. (1984). The development of flight deck displays. This Journal, 37, 217.Google Scholar
6 RAF AP 129 (6th edition), Vol. I, Part II.Google Scholar
7Guide to Flying, by Veale, S. E.. Temple Press. 1942.Google Scholar
8 FAA Advisory Circular, AC 120–28C, 9 March 1984.Google Scholar
9Report of the National Transportation Safety Board. AAR-73-14, (14 June 1973).Google Scholar
10 New Zealand Royal Commission (Mahon) Report. The accident on Mount Erebus, 28 November 1979.Google Scholar
11Tanner, P. H. (1979). Risk: taken or controlled? This Journal 32, 395.Google Scholar
12Tanner, P. H. (1982). Further progress with risk simulation. This Journal, 35, 39.Google Scholar