Originally Posted by
Uplinker
Engine FADECs, going slightly off piste here: Frankly having to worry about fuel mixture, carburettor icing, priming pumps, magnetos etc. is absolutely prehistoric !! Like most of us; I can casually reach into my average 2008 car in any weather, any temperature, turn the key and it will start, (while I scrape the ice off the windscreen). But a C150 or equivalent??
A big problem with applying FADEC technology to your Cessna is cost. Compared to carburetors, electronics have rather unforgiving failure modes - carbs tend to wear gradually, slowly shifting - while electronics simply quit, often with little or no warning. When that happens in your car, you pull over to the side - when that happens in your GA aircraft, best case is you make forced landing.
That's why commercial airliner FADEC installations are all dual channel, fault tolerant, built with highly screened electronic components. They are also quite expensive - LRU cost for a FADEC is typically between a quarter million and a half million dollars. Yes, the actual cost to screw one together is a fraction of that but still approaches six figures. Further, while GA isn't as bad a commercial aircraft, the FADEC is subject to far greater and much more frequent environmental extremes than automotive installations (and large, frequent, and rapid temperature fluctuations are hell on electronics).