METHOD FOR FLIGHT CONTROL OF A PLURALITY OF AIRCRAFT FLYING IN FORMATION

In a method for the flight control of a plurality of aircraft flying in formation with respect to one another, correction signals are generated for an autopilot system or a command display in order to allow one or more following aircraft within the formation to follow a lead aircraft in the formation in a predeterminable relative position. A nominal trajectory of the following aircraft, parallel to the trajectory (1) of the lead aircraft, is calculated at each instantaneous position P′act of the following aircraft, which trajectory runs through the instantaneous actual position P′act and a reference point P′RP. (The reference point P′RP is the projection of a point PRP, which is separated by the longitudinal nominal distance xnom between the lead aircraft and the following aircraft, on the trajectory of the lead aircraft, taking into account the lateral and vertical actual distances yact and zact between the trajectory of the lead aircraft and that of the following aircraft. The trajectory of the following aircraft is calculated taking into account the lateral actual distance yact from the trajectory of the lead aircraft by determining support points P′ on the trajectory of the following aircraft which have the same time coordinates as the corresponding support points on the trajectory of the lead aircraft. The correction signals are determined by i) measuring the longitudinal, lateral and vertical actual distances xact, vact and zact between the trajectory of the lead aircraft and that of the following aircraft at the instantaneous position P′act of the following aircraft, ii) calculating the longitudinal deviation x, the vertical deviation z and the lateral deviation y of the instantaneous actual position P′act and of the nominal position P′nom of the following aircraft from the respective nominal values xnom, znom, ynom and the measured actual values xact, zact, yact, iii) calculating the nominal speed and the nominal acceleration of the following aircraft at the point P′RP, and iv) calculating the nominal curvature, the nominal climbing rate and the nominal curvature angle Ψ of the trajectory of the following aircraft at the instantaneous position P′act of the following aircraft.