AIRCRAFT AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING LOADS ACTING ON AN AIRCRAFT

An aircraft comprises a control computer, an internal or external load determining unit, a first, central inertial measurement device and at least one additional second inertial measurement device, which is at a distance from the first inertial measurement device, wherein the load determining unit is coupled to the first inertial measurement device and the at least one second inertial measurement device, wherein the load determining unit is designed to receive instantaneous first accelerations detected by the first inertial measurement device and instantaneous second accelerations detected by the at least one second inertial measurement device and from this to determine instantaneous loads acting on the aircraft and to store them in a memory unit and/or to transmit them to an external unit, wherein the load determining unit is designed to determine expected manoeuvre accelerations from the first accelerations as well as from position information provided by the control computer and a current control manoeuvre, wherein the load determining unit is designed to subtract the expected manoeuvre accelerations from the totality of the detected first accelerations and second accelerations and to determine from this externally induced dynamic accelerations on the aircraft, and wherein the load determining unit is designed to determine expected manoeuvre loads on the aircraft from the expected manoeuvre accelerations by means of a manoeuvre load model, to determine dynamic loads on the aircraft from the induced dynamic accelerations and to determine the sum of the expected manoeuvre loads and the dynamic loads as loads acting on the aircraft.