Originally Posted by
silverstrata
Except that the B737 has no computers. The flight control system and STS system is good old 1961 engineering - whacking great 5mm steel cables to all control surfaces, plus a bit of hydraulic servo. And while it can be a bit heavy if all the hydraulics fail, it basically becomes a large Cessna 172. And there are no ‘computers’ to fail.
Even the STS system can hardly be called a computer, as it only has 200 bytes of iron-ferrel core memory. And the comment that the STS was reverse trimming and not assisting, is a bit of a red herring, as it always does that. Most annoying system ever, because pilots like aircraft to be in trim, not out of trim. And the STS can be overcome with trim input, as pilots do every day when hand flying, or by disconnecting the trim system. (Whatever the STS does, you just oppose it, otherwise the control forces are absurd).
And upon trim system disconnection you are left with that enormous clanking manual stab-trim-wheel, with more thick steel cables, that was originally installed as a steam-valve on the Titanic - but it sure saved money on design costs....
Silver
Sigh, first you were claiming that it wasn't a computer because it only had a 286 microprocessor (Which is a bizarre claim to those of us old enough to recall when all the cool kids had 286 processors in their computers) Now you pop back up claiming it's not a computer because it only has a certain amount of memory ... seriously? Do you even hear the things you're saying? Might I suggest that whatever larger point you might be trying to make is obscured by your misguided and factually incorrect semantics? Whatever this device is, it has a digital CPU, it has digital memory, it takes digital input data and performs logical programming steps to generate digital output data. Most of the rest of the world calls that a computer. If it's really important to you for it not to be called a computer, can you suggest a word or combination of words that you would find acceptable? I don't see that anyone has claimed that the 737 is fly-by-wire a la the Airbus, but it is certainly equipped with a device that most of the rest of the world calls a computer, whcih is autonomously making adjustments to large control surfaces whcih affects how and where the airplane flies.