The SAU-36 automatic flight-control system helped manage the Yak-38's complicated hover controls through four operating modes. Combined control allowed pilot intervention and override. Stabilization stored the roll, pitch, and heading at activation so the system could try to hold them. Damping addressed short oscillations and turbulence, with maneuver limits also helping the aircraft through demanding bombing maneuvers. Vertical-takeoff mode was intended to hold zero bank and a three-degree pitch attitude until the pilot intervened. These were demanding functions for a first Soviet aircraft of this kind, and pilots found the automation useful when it worked and troublesome when it failed.
Notable Point · 10:03-12:10
What the Yak-38's SAU-36 automatic controls did
Pilot override, attitude stabilization, damping and a dedicated hover mode show how the SAU-36 tried to make a complicated aircraft manageable.