Originally Posted by
JohnDixson
An excellent discussion is going on here, and I am wondering if any of the various operator groups have begun thinking about what they expect out of imminent fly by wire technology?
Hi John - here is my list:
It must have real benefit for the pilot and for safety, not be a "look what we can do!" technology for technology's sake. And I don't count a bit of weight or cost saving as a benefit in that context!
It must have a good HMI and be intuitive. Human-centred design is the relevant buzzword.
It must take on board all lessons learnt in fixed-wing FBW. Helicopter manufacturers can prone to existing in a bubble and starting with a blank sheet of paper, thus repeating all the mistakes that were made 20 years ago in fixed -wing. You only have to look at some of the current generation of helicopters' HMI to see how prevalent the bubble-think is!
It must fully embrace the 2-crew concept (or if you like, make allowances for it!)
There must be full disclosure about its behaviour, including all it's reversionary and fallback modes. In other words, the detailed information that will mean a properly trained pilot never having to say "what's it doing now?" or "what will happen when I ..."?
Manufacturers must not only say how it behaves, but why it behaves that way and how they envisage it being operated.
An adequate supply of approved full flight simulators must be available for pilot training prior to the first sales.
So not much then!