Fly3est makes a very good point. What is the preferred configuration and what are the benefits?
• Full motion Vs Limited or no fixed force controls. One of the draw backs to limited or fixed motion systems is the lack of feedback for rotor disk position, especially at night. This is also evident when performing ground contact maneuvers. The SHADOW/Comanche system utilized landing gear feed back sensors to assist during ground contact maneuvers.
• Another aspect is control feedback. The C/MH-53E incorporates an artificial aerodynamic feed back system in the pitch axis (FAS – Force Augmentation System). This system increases stick breakout forces and cyclic stick damping as airspeed increases. It also provided stick force per G derived from pitch rate and airspeed. This would be easy to incorporate in a modern fly by wire system.
• Boeing Vs Airbus provides a great study point for future helicopter flight control systems. Airbus elected to go with side arm controllers with little or no feed back and electronic engine throttles that are not back driven. Boeing cloned a traditional mechanical system on the 777 and even back drives the throttles. Both companies would argue that theirs was the best approach.
I am sure that there are many more issues and would enjoy any future discussions.
