Patent ID: 8525702

Claim:
A method for detecting absences of manual piloting and automatic piloting on an aircraft (AC) provided with a stick ( 1 ) for manually controlling roll and pitch and with an automatic pilot ( 2 ) in which an automatic trajectory (TR 2 ) is programmed, comprising: depending the altitude, the vertical speed and the heading of said aircraft (AC), as well as the deviation (e) of the actual trajectory (TRa) of the aircraft (AC) with respect to said automatic trajectory (TR 2 ), a time interval (T) is determined, during which it is tolerable for said aircraft (AC) to be able to fly without any control command, both on the part of the stick and on that of said automatic pilot; the absence of manual piloting by said stick ( 1 ) is detected; the absence of automatic piloting by said automatic pilot ( 2 ) is detected; and an alert is emitted for the attention of the crew of said aircraft (AC) where said absences of manual piloting and automatic piloting last simultaneously over a period at least equal to said time interval (T).