Newsgroups: sci.aeronautics.airliners Path: news From: palmer@icat.larc.nasa.gov (Michael T. Palmer) Subject: Re: Airbus safety (was Re: TWAs Status) X-Submission-Date: 11 Dec 92 17:26:55 GMT References: <1992Nov25.191925.27991@news.mentorg.com> <8762@lee.SEAS.UCLA.EDU> <1992Dec01.173212.27936@news.mentorg.com> Message-ID: Approved: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA USA Sender: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM X-Submission-Message-Id: Date: 11 Dec 92 17:42:32 PST rdd@cactus.org (Robert Dorsett) writes: >I would also note that in fighter aircraft, there isn't the issue of >two-pilot "peers" having to quickly and instinctively figure out who is >flying the airplane. On the A320, there is no interconnect between the >sidesticks: the captain can command a full-left in an emergency evasive >maneuver, the F/O full-right, and the net result will be an algebraically >added "zero." I believe this is incorrect, though I don't have the documentation here right now. My understanding is that whenever one of the sticks reaches a critical percentage of deflection (say, 75%), it becomes automatically the selected input device. At this point, the other control stick is ignored. So it's a race. Whoever slams their stick to the stops first wins, and the only way for the other crewmember to override is to physically attack the winner. Neat, huh? I'm not sure how sub-critical deflections are handled - they may indeed be algebraically summed. If any Airbus people can provide the straight scoop, I'd appreciate it. In the sidestick implementations used at NASA, the sticks are interconnected ("logically", really, since they are hydraulically back-driven) so that, like in current cockpits, whoever is strongest (i.e., most scared-to-death) wins. -- Michael T. Palmer, M/S 152, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681 Voice: 804-864-2044, FAX: 804-864-7793, Email: m.t.palmer@larc.nasa.gov PGP 2.0 Public Key now available -- Consider it an envelope for your e-mail