Future STOVL flight control: development of two-inceptor trimmap based pitch plane control law for the VAAC research aircraft

STOVL aircraft have several force "motivators" controlling the pitch plane. These include tailplane angle, flap position, throttle and nozzle angle. Future configurations are likely to have these motivators, possibly adding other new features such as independent nozzle thrust vectoring, and canard foreplanes. The trimmap based pitch plane control law, known as Control Law 001, is a solution to the major challenge of optimally controlling these many motivators with just two pilot inceptors. This paper describes design, development and initial flight trials of the VAAC 001 control law.