Top Gun taught us that the best and brightest pilots can perform some amazing aerobatics.  Nobody seems surprised that a good pilot, with some practice, can move seamlessly from the flight maneuvers used on a Boeing 747 to those featured in Blue Angels shows.  While computer autopilots have performed well in commercial aircraft for some time, however, getting an electronic computer to pull a plane successfully through an aerobatic maneuver is almost impossible, and is thus a relatively new field of research. Read the rest of this entry »