Patent ID: 8052096

Claim:
A method of piloting an aircraft, the method comprising: providing an unmodified aircraft having at least one pilot control configured for operation by a pilot for manned operation; retrofitting the aircraft so as to include a vehicle controller and at least two pilot control actuators arranged in a dual actuator configuration, wherein the vehicle controller is capable of being selectably enabled or disabled during flight of the aircraft to operate the at least two pilot control actuators, and the at least two pilot control actuators are each capable of being selectably coupled to or from the at least one pilot control during flight of the aircraft by an associated, independently controllable clutch and operative to provide an enhanced bandwidth capability; flying the retrofitted aircraft; detecting without pilot input whether the vehicle controller is enabled; and when the vehicle controller is enabled: sensing at least one aircraft property; computing a vehicle controller response based on the sensed property; and piloting the modified aircraft using the vehicle controller by operating the at least two pilot control actuators according to the vehicle controller response.