FlightBlogger Archive 2007-2012

Video: Airbus fly-by-wire control stick meets Brazilian landscape

Written by

Jon Ostrower

in

MIAMI — I’m here in Florida for the next two days for an Airbus simulator training that will explore the European airframer’s digital fly-by-wire philosophy, which has oft been a point of discussion about the role of computers and the role of pilots in flying. 

For Airbus, fly-by-wire has resulted in hard limits on the aircraft flight envelope, preventing over-speeding, stalling, and over-banking of the aircraft. The maximum bank allowed is 67-deg, with nose-down pitch not exceeding 15-deg and a 2.5g limit. An auto-thrust system complements the A-floor protection by automatically spooling up the engines, limiting nose up pitch (angle of attack) to prevent the aircraft from stalling and providing best climb performance.

Those philosophical discussions, both of which diverge and converge amongst commercial aircraft manufacturers, have guided aircraft development for three decades now, with some implementation of fly-by-wire included on every single new aircraft in development. The systems have evolved from simply providing a flight control input all the way to being the basis for structural design through limiting loads on an airframe.
The video above shows the technology in action aboard an A320 family aircraft operating around South America in routine operation and presented in rather dramatic fashion. 

This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.

This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.

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