Talk:Aircraft flight control systems

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[edit] system

a "system" is a singular entity and does not take a plural number verb. it does not matter that the system is made of more than one component. you do not say "the computer are well-designed" do you, because the computer is made of multiple pieces of hardware? nor do you say, "the water are cold" because of its atomic composition of multiple atoms. please, because of such mistakes in this article, it is difficult to discern what exactly is being described: a single system or multiple systems. 141.211.120.63 14:23, 19 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I believe it's describing the different types of flight control systems. First it describes what a flight control system is, then it describes the different types. I checked all instances of the word system and it appears clear to me; I don't believe there is any misuse of the word. Perhaps what you were talking about has been edited since you posted that comment though, I didn't check the history. 192.76.80.74 01:27, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Fly By wire

A fly by wire flight control system is one in which there is no mechanical link from the pilot's controls [stick, throttle, rudder etc.] to the actual control surfaces [rudder, airlerons, elevators and engine etc]. Instead the connection is electronic,usually through a computer. The advantage of this is that the links between the pilot and the controls can be lighter, duplicated and run more conveniently. If a computer is involved then the plane can be programmed to stay within its flight envelope. Advanced planes such as the Eurofighter Typhoon could not be flown by a human alone. Of course, adding a computer to the process can create other problems, and lead to crashes. Most notoriously, the Airbus crash at the Tolouse airshow back in the 90s.

I do not believe that the Vulcan had a fly by wire system, not least because I remember seeing the world's first fully fly by wire aircraft at the Farnborough airshow in the 80s - it was a specially modified Jaguar.

Does fly-by-wire therefore get its name from the wires in the electronics? It would be helpful if this was clarified in the article. --BigBlueFish 09:45, 10 October 2005 (UTC)

Correct, it refers to the fact that all the flying inputs are made electronically, not physically. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 14:26, 10 October 2005 (UTC)

There is something wrong with this statement "first fitted to the Avro Vulcan in the 1940s." Aside from the date I must also add that I have sat in a museum exhibit Vulcan wiggled the rudder and heard the disconnected rod thumping in the fuselage. GraemeLeggett 11:48, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

there is no mention of helicopter flight controls. they are much more complicated and interesting (preceding added by 64.180.167.82, 23 December 2006, unsigned [[[User:72.223.89.80|72.223.89.80]] 20:26, 12 October 2007 (UTC)])

The whole of this Fly-by-wire section was copied straight from a book! (preceding added by 217.42.140.88, 29 January 2007, unsigned [[[User:72.223.89.80|72.223.89.80]] 20:26, 12 October 2007 (UTC)])

I think that even the Airbus 330 has regular controls on its rudder and elevator trim, as backup. Hudicourt 05:22, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Merge

I agree that Flying a fixed-wing aircraft without control surfaces should not be a separate article, but should be merged into this one. EuroSong ^talk 10:52, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Aircraft flight control systems -> Fly by wire -> cars

I realize that some cars are fly by wire, but it's a stretch to include a section on cars in an article about `aircraft flight control systems'. Perhaps it should be moved into a `fly by wire' or it's own article? dougmc 18:53, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

I removed this section, now covered by the Drive by wire article. Nimbus227 (talk) 13:14, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Not Fly By Wire

The Sukhoi T-4 was NOT a FBW airplane at all because the design was highly, and primarily dependent on the mechanical-hydraulic system. It would be more accurate to term the T-4's design as "electrically augmented flight controls", Not FBW at all (actually, the T-4 was a bit of a flying nightmare, not a primitive FBW jet.) The Avro Vulcan was not FBW either, a much more elegant design to say the least, but not FBW. Also, the F-15 Eagle is NOT a FBW Fighter, because the conventional mechanical-hydraulic system is primary, and responsible for the airplane (in the F-15 the electrical flight controls part of it are termed "Automatic Flight Controls" and it is not credited as being an FBW aircraft. Same goes for the F-18). In the F-15 and F-18 (as well as the T-4 and Vulcan) the airplane is totally dependant on rod and bearing connections from cockpit to hydraulics, and will crash without that mechanical link. Also the mechanical link, overrides the electrical or so-called "FBW" concept. The first ever True Fly By Wire type (at all) was the NASA F-8C [1] the first ever FBW Fighter was the YF-16 in 1974, and the first production FBW Fighter was the F-16 in 1978. A lot of these other claims are non-substantiated and need to be deleted. The funny thing is, someone has deleted the F-16 , which was the first and most significant FBW Fighter of all of these. Bwebb00 (talk)