Reconfigurable flight control of a large flexible supersonic aircraft

The use of reconfiguration control enables a pilot to continue to fly an aircraft which has sustained damage to one or more of its control surfaces or actuators. This paper deals with a reconfigurable control system (RCS) which has been designed to operate with a large, slender, delta winged transport aircraft which has significant structural bending. The baseline flight control system provides the aircraft with the required handling qualities and a considerable measure of structural load alleviation. The RCS is intended to provide the damaged aircraft with an adequate level of flying qualities to permit its pilot to land the aircraft safely and to provide a sufficient measure of load alleviation to preserve the aircraft´s structural integrity until landing has been achieved. The paper provides supporting evidence of the performance of the RCS obtained from digital simulation studies.