—This paper presents a generalized linear quadratic Gaussian and loop transfer recovery method to design an optimal lateral control system for an F-16 aircraft. The traditional linear quadratic Gaussian and loop transfer recovery method has been quite popular for aircraft control system design. In the proposed method we derive an optimal control law to minimize a generalized linear quadratic performance index to achieve better recovery quality in the LTR process and better some performance in time-domain responses and frequency-domain responses as well. The resulting controller can achieve a prescribed degree of stability even in the face of a non-minimum phase problem. Finally, the numerical simulation of an optimal lateral control system for an F-16 aircraft demonstrates the proposed method can provide good robustness and performance properties in both time- and frequency-domain responses.