Patent ID: 8565981

Claim:
A method of controlling a buoyancy system for an aircraft, the buoyancy system including manual trigger means and automatic trigger means and a controller configured to cause floats to inflate in response to either trigger means being activated, the method comprising taking account of at least one attitude parameter of the aircraft in order to control the automatic trigger means, and the method further comprising: a) determining, with an inertial sensor, the roll angle and the pitching angle θ of the aircraft; b) verifying, with an analyzer in communication with the inertial sensor, whether and whether −θ R <θ<+θ R where and θ R are predefined limit angles; c) if at least one of the angles and θ is no longer in its above-defined respective range, activating the automatic trigger means to thereby cause the controller to cause the floats to inflate; d) if the angles and θ are in their above-defined respective ranges, determining, with an altimeter, the altitude A of the aircraft; e) inhibiting, with an inhibitor in communication with the altimeter, the automatic trigger means if A>A R and returning to step a), where A R is a predefined limit altitude; and f) if A R ≧A and if at least partial immersion of the aircraft has been detected with an immersion detector, activating the automatic trigger means to thereby cause the controller to cause the floats to inflate, else returning to step a).