joystick. Te current screens are iPads. Skyryse developed FlightOS to support safe, automated
aircraft operations, and Groden says the system provides the functionality of a conventional, all-axis autopilot while controlling and managing every system in the aircraft. FlightOS includes flight envelope protection control, advanced navigation, and data analysis capabilities designed to assess and adjust to terrain, wind conditions, and other variables. In designing the system, Groden says, the Skyryse team
took a “first principles” approach, identifying the most fundamental elements a pilot would need to achieve situ- ational awareness and safely fly an aircraft. “If you looked at a conventional cockpit for the first time, you’d say, ‘Tis doesn’t look like it’s designed around a human at all,’ ” he says. “Te real innovation [with FlightOS] is that we started
Skyryse says FlightOS’s
triple-redundant,
all-axis, IFR system, installed in this R44 demonstrator, will
free pilots to focus on higher-level
decision-making. (Skyryse Photo)
with the human and worked backwards, getting our system to feel intuitive and natural,” Groden said during a late 2022 visit to Skyryse by HAI President and CEO James Viola and US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg. Both Viola and Landsberg had the opportunity to fly a
FlightOS-equipped R44. While Viola has logged thousands of rotorcraft hours, Landsberg’s experience is in fixed-wing
aircraft. However, after a 15-minute training session on FlightOS, both pilots were able to take off, hover, fly, and land the Skyryse-equipped helicopter.
Reducing the Pilot’s Burden Besides interpreting sensory inputs from conventional cockpits, Groden says, pilots “have to memorize the entire pilot operating handbook [POH]” to deal with normal and emergency conditions. When you’re flying a helicopter, with one hand on the cyclic and the other on the collective, “you don’t have an extra limb to grab the POH and read it, so therefore you have to know everything by heart and know exactly what to do. An airplane isn’t much better,” with the proliferation of onboard systems. Of the pilot dictum “aviate, navigate, communicate,” in
that order, Groden says FlightOS is designed to let the pilot focus on the latter two steps. “Te pilot is still in control of the aircraft but shouldn’t
have to, in today’s world, worry about keeping the helicopter in the sky,” he says. “Because we’re [aiming to be certificated to a failure rate of] 10–9
, the system only has one mode of
operation. It never lets go. It’s always in control and right there with you. Tat reduces the pilot’s burden of having to successfully aviate the platform. “Our technology stack is much more than just a
42 ROTOR JUNE 2023
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