22-Apr-14

Flight Control Systems

simple introduction

Types of Flight Control Systems

Mechanical
Hydraulic-Mechanical
Fly-by-wire
Other

22-Apr-14

Mechanical flight control

Mechanical Flight Controls

Common on General Aviation Aircraft

Gives pilot a lot of feel as he is directly connected to
the control surfaces on the aircraft
Generally is made up of cables, pulleys, rods, and
sometimes even chains
Routing these kind of systems throughout the aircraft
requires a lot of thought and creativity at times
Generally not very good when there are large stick
forces. The pilots strength becomes the limiting factor.

22-Apr-14

Hydraulic flight control

Hydraulic Mechanical Flight

Controls

Analogous to power steering on a car, easier

physically to make control inputs but loss of feel can
be a problem
Sometimes referred to as boosted
Adds complexity to an already complex system
Added weight
Has to include hydraulic lines, actuators, pumps, and a
linkage between the hydraulic system and the
mechanical cockpit controls
Makes flying the aircraft less demanding and allows
for high loads on control surfaces and much physically
larger control surfaces
Sometimes makes use of Artificial Feel Devices

22-Apr-14

Fly by wire

Fly By Wire

Really more of a subset of Hydraulic Controls

Commonly uses a hydraulic control circuit to physically
move the control surfaces and a computer controlled
(digital) circuit that takes pilot input and actuates the
hydraulic system
Common on newer commercial and military aircraft
Computer interpretation of pilot input allows for better
stability of the aircraft allowing much more on the
edge designs to be capable of flying
It decrease the pilots effort heavily in operating the
control surfaces.