METHOD FOR ESTIMATING THE ROTOR TORQUES OF AN AIRCRAFT CAPABLE OF HOVERING AND CONTROL UNIT FOR AN AIRCRAFT CAPABLE OF HOVERING

There is described a method for estimating rotor torques (TQ, TQ) of an aircraft (1) capable of hovering; the aircraft (1) comprises a first and a second rotor (31, 32), which are operatively connected to one another and rotatable under the action of respective rotor torques (TQ, TQ); and a first engine (21, 22), which is operatively connected to the first and second rotors (31, 32) to provide them with respective engine torques (TQ, TQ); the first and second rotors (31, 32) having respective collective pitch angles (θ1, θ2); the method comprises the steps of i) calculating a symmetric component (TQ) of the rotor torques (TQ, TQ) on the basis of the engine torques (TQ, TQ), which is equal to the rotor torque (TQ, TQ) when the pitches (θ1, θ2) are equal to each other; ii) calculating an asymmetric component (TQ) of the rotor torque (TQ, TQ) on the basis of a pitch difference (Δθ) between the pitches (θ1, θ2); and iii) calculating the rotor torques (TQ, TQ) as the algebraic sum of the symmetric component (TQ) and the asymmetric component (TQ). (Figure 2)