On Jun 20, 5:16*am, Dylan Smith wrote:
On 2008-06-19, Le Chaud Lapin wrote:

3. Do you think electronics should retain a peripheral role ? (Garmin,
etc) but not be used in control paths (fly-by-wire)?

Fly by wire is pretty pointless on the kinds of planes we fly, it's
adding complexity where none is needed and steel cables and pulleys are
pretty reliable in airplanes, and pushrods to the swash plate in a
helicopter seem very reliable too. Changing those to electronics would
have pretty much zero benefit in a light airplane or helicopter (and
some significant disadvantages).

I disagree.

For XC flights, a computer can do a far better job optimizing fuel
efficiency, for example, by controlling control surfaces dynamically
during flight. A computer can also minimize the effects of
turbulence, by reactively changing the same control surfaces
dynamically.

A computer can take any of many objectives defined by pilot:

1. Minimum time in flight.
2. Minimum fuel consumption.
3. Altitude stabilization.
4. Minimum susceptibility to turbulence.
5. Maximum visibility of surroundings.

etc...

And make the flight conform to those requirements, and warn if it can
not.

That very same computer could communicate flight plan to ground, store
minute details of entire flight on hard disk and automatically move
them to home computer for recap....

Control electronics does exist for GA, it's called an autopilot, and
they've been around for a long time (some more sophisticated than
others). Some engines are also available with FADEC.

These systems are massively expensive, and there is much redundancy.
For example, the entire radio stack could be eliminated by a software
radio, which controls fed through LCD monitor. The software radi
costs $1000. The computer would be one of same 2 computers used for
other functions.

The possibilities are essentially endless. GA is at the beginning,
not the end, of discovering them.

-Le Chaud Lapin-