PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Did You Fly The Vulcan?? (Merged)
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Old 4th Sep 2008, 15:57
  #1357 (permalink)  
LowObservable
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Far West Wessex
Posts: 2,580
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A little controlled thread drift - JSF also uses electro-hydraulic actuators on its primary flight controls. Electric has been rejected because it cannot be made adequately jam-proof. The result is that instead of a single actuator on a hyd system, there is an actuator with two honking electrical pumps (primary and backup) and the whole thing is about the same size as the motor on my garden tractor, not counting the toaster-size power unit that delivers the juice to it. (Leading edge flaps are electric because you can get by without them.) Moreover, the whole shebang requires both heating and cooling.

All because someone thought it was a good idea, a long time ago.
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