On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 19:23:39 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:

Military fighters need the best possible performance (or at least they
did, until they hit the obstacle of keeping pilots alive). FBW can
achieve that in certain situations, but at the expense of higher risk
for all flight in general. I don't see how any of this would be
applicable for general or commercial aviation.

There is one potential advantage to computer enhanced control for
civil aviation: fuel economy. We can build more efficient airframes,
but they're often unstable. We can compensate with software. FBW
offers the promise of allowing airplanes to use less fuel. That's too
important a benefit to ignore, but we can't sacrifice safety in the
process.

RK Henry