Im quite surprised at the concern shown by some towards FBW. As a fixed wing pilot Im perfectly comfortable with it, even though my current type is my first and only experience of FBW.
Is it because there haven't really been any examples of FBW in helicopters other than in developmental or test roles?
Is a helicopter any different than a fixed wing aircraft in its need for a reliable flight control system?
When I compare my current type to previous aircraft I have flown that do not have FBW I see that I now have far more redundancy in my flight controls. I also have greater accuracy and efficiency.
When I look at aspects such as power delivery to the flight control system I see that I have six independent sources of electrical power. That is also not taking into account that each of those sources supplies multiple flight control elements thereby giving further redundancy. There are also three flight control modes to allow for reducing levels of system operability. When I compare to another non FBW type I have flown that relied on cables, push rods, and two hydraulic systems I start to wonder how I ever thought that it was safe! Of course it was in fact perfectly reliable, but this new aircraft has so much more redundancy and reliability that you can easily see why fixed wing aircraft are predominantly all now FBW.
Perhaps the experienced helicopter types amongst you can explain to me a fundamental difference with helicopters that would preclude their using FBW. As a fixed wing pilot that has experienced both sides of FBW I certainly cant think of a reason why you wouldn't want it.