Patent ID: 8774987

Claim:
A method to suppress the effects of vertical gusts due to turbulence for an aircraft having at least one control surface actuated by aircraft controls, the method comprising: collecting air data and inertial data for the aircraft during flight operations; determining an inertial angle of attack for the aircraft and a total angle of attack for the aircraft; determining a gust angle of attack as a difference between the inertial angle of attack and the total angle of attack; determining a true air speed of the aircraft; estimating a level of vertical wind gust by scaling the gust angle of attack by the true airspeed of the aircraft; generating a command based on the estimated level of vertical wind gust when the estimated level of vertical wind gust exceeds a predetermined threshold level, wherein no command is generated responsive to the estimated level of vertical wind gust when the estimated level of vertical wind gust is below the predetermined threshold level; and applying the command to the aircraft controls to actuate at least one control surface based on the estimated level of vertical wind gust, wherein an aircraft response to the actuation of at least one control surface changes at least one of a vertical acceleration, a pitch acceleration, a pitch rate, a pitch attitude, or a structural load of the aircraft due to the estimated level of vertical wind gust.