Cub Driver wrote:

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 19:48:28 +0100, Alan Dicey
wrote:

I think this is also the kind of system the original poster was thinking
of, where the aircraft is kept from departing from controlled flight by
the flight control computer overriding the pilot inputs and keeping the
aircraft right on the edge of its flight envelope.

And would crash without the computer? As I understand it, a human
pilot can't control the B-2 unaided. Is that correct, and would that
be a fair definition of fly-by-wire?


That is my understanding of it. Some modern aircraft are designed to be
aerodynamically unstable (center of pressure in front of center of
gravity) in part or all of the flight envelope, for reasons associated
with stealth, variable geometry or vectored thrust.

Here's a couple of links with some basic descriptions of the B-2 FCS:

http://www.edwards.af.mil/articles98...er/page_5.html

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/sy...-2-history.htm

recompose them to one line if they break in your newsreader.

Here's another discussion of flight control systems in general, with a
definition of fly-by-wire that seems to agree with mine in that it
specifies computer signal processing;

http://www.aero.polimi.it/~l050263/b...6-FligCont.pdf


From what I can find, it looks as if the B-2 is designed for
fly-by-wire control, probably to keep it stealthy as much as anything.
The flying wing shape by itself does not demand FBW, as the XB-35 and
YB-49 designs of the 40's were controllable without computer assistance.