The present disclosure is directed to autonomous control systems and methods for navigating an aircraft relative to a movable object. The autonomous control system may comprise: a first one or more sensors to track the movable object in a local coordinate frame; a second one or more sensors to track the aircraft in the local coordinate frame; and a flight control system having a processor that is operatively coupled with the first one or more sensors and the second one or more sensors, the flight control system configured to provide pitch, roll, and yaw commands to the aircraft. The processor may be configured to identify a perch point at a predetermined distance relative to the movable object in the local coordinate frame. The perch point may be fixed relative to the movable object. The processor may be configured to navigate, via the flight control system, the aircraft to the perch point as a function of the speed, the position, or the heading of the movable object.