Stubby wrote:
Now, I'm not sure how much improvement is really needed for an airplane.
Airplanes are extremely elegant because of their simplicity. If you
ask a mechanical engineer to design something that converts forward
motion into lift with no moving parts, I doubt that he will come up with
a wing.
Funny you mention that. I thought long and hard about what gives a
plane lift, relying on Maxwell's interpretation of fluid dynamics, and
though I'm not a mechanical engineer (I'm EE/comp sci), I get the
feeling that not even some pilots don't really know where the forces
come from. Sure, there's the blow over the paper, speed on top greater
than speed on bottom Bernoulli stuff, but unless I'm mistaken,
Maxwell's had a fundamental understanding of aerodynamics.
We have added a few things such as altimeters, airspeed indicators, etc.
These make flying easier and safer, but strictly speaking, do not
make the plane fly. Next, we add radios, transponders and the like.
Again, these help controllers on the ground with safety considerations,
but don't make the plane fly.
So what does a "central control" add?
1. reduced weight - get rid of superfluous mechanical/hydraulics
2. greater efficiency (computers compute things humans prefer not)
3. cost (software controls have essentially zero material incremental
cost)
4. finer control (the control theorists would have fun in this arear)
5. clearer self-diagonsis (devices tell you when they are sick, the
precise moment when they got sick [with ambient data], to what extent
they are sick, and effect on the aircraft performance);
6. safety (aircraft could actually monitor weather in real time and
advise - "rate of decrease in atmospheric pressure is extreme - use
caution" "conditions are prime for icing.." etc.
7. safety - "heavy aircraft heading relative (20, 110, 7) at relative
(8000, 400, 1400) proceed with caution"
There are so many things that one could code in software that would
make the flying experience more rewarding. I've never flown, but I
imagine that it takese focus and concentration.
But you're right: For all the fancy gadgetry, a 777 will still glide
down from 30,000 ft using 100-year-old technology.
-Chaud Lapin-
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