Airbus A350 has made fully automatic visual landing. Part 1

European aviation group of companies Airbus made first stage of tests of the automatic system of visual taxiing, take-off and landing. As Aviation Week writes during tests the airplane Airbus A350 equipped with this system made six flights including one during which airplane in fully automatic mode made taxiing on the fly ground, take-off and landing. In all cases automatic used for airplane control only data from external video-cameras.

Big aviation companies today engineer more and more flight automation systems that would allow airplanes not only fly along the route though autopilot but also make fully automatic landing and taxiing on the fly ground. Part of such operations, though it is not applied, is already technically possible but for them is necessary the aerodrome to be equipped with secondary equipment. For example, for automatic landing instrument landing system is needed. Partially automated landing in the airports with such system airplanes already accomplish.

It is considered that more automation of passenger airplanes will make flight safer. It is also assumed that automation will also allow to solve problem of assignment of flight levels in the air area of the aerodromes and reduction of intervals between airplanes’ take-offs and landing. Systems of technical vision allow to automate processes of take-off and landing on the aerodromes that do not have instrument landing and other systems of instrumental operations. Engineers suppose that systems of technical vision images in which are processed by algorithms may be precise enough to provide take-off and landing of the airplane only by using images from cameras and data of satellite systems of global positioning.
To be continued…