In the S-92 Thread, Brother Dixson made mention of the successes being reported in the use of Fly By Wire (FBW) in the Canadian S-92MHP aircraft.
The FAA Certification Requirements in FAR Part 29 are said to be very far behind the times for such new technology.
Is this situation problematic to potential upgrades to existing Aircraft Types that would benefit from such advancements?
On the cockpit/controls subject, a couple of comments. First, the FBW system on the Canadian MHP has received excellent marks from both the SA and Canadian pilots, and should, one would think be a natural upgrade to the civil version. My opinion is based on the fact that the FAA has yet to address FBW in Part 29 and its attendant Advisory Circular ( which instructs on how the applicant is to meet the Part 29 standards ), and thus, folks like the AW 609 team are obtaining certification based upon “ special conditions “. I haven’t seen those special conditions published anywhere, but I’m guessing ( and I do mean guessing ) that AW briefs the FAA on how their system works and the FAA flies it, assesses whether it does what AW says, and then approves it. ( That Part 29 is two decades plus behind current flight control technology is a subject for separate discussion ). Anyway, by this line of thinking, putting the FBW system into the FAA certified S-92 should be relatively easy.