EU-DIGEST

Is Flight 447's 'Fly-by-Wire' Aircraft Technology Safe? - by Joshua Rhett Miller

As investigators search for clues to why Air France Flight 447 crashed, former pilots and aviation experts are debating whether the "fly-by-wire" technology in modern aircraft makes it difficult or impossible for a pilot to control a plane in distress. The Airbus A330-200 that crashed into the Atlantic on May 31 — killing all 228 people aboard — relied on electronic rather than hydraulic or mechanical systems to control the aircraft. It's akin to having a computer control your car, with the electronic brain doing the steering, hitting the gas and pumping the brakes as you tell it what to do. Some pilots claim the old way was better. In an emergency, they say, passengers are better off having a skilled pilot working all the systems.Among a fly-by-wire system's benefits are weight savings and flight envelope protection, or keeping the aircraft within safe operating parameters, Greczyn said. In other words, the system is meant to cut down on human error by not letting a pilot maneuver the plane into extreme degrees of roll, pitch or yaw that would endanger the aircraft's structural integrity.

Mary Anne Greczyn, an Airbus spokeswoman, said fly-by-wire technology was introduced by the company in 1988 with the A320 and has been used on every subsequent Airbus aircraft. "The system maximizes safe control of the aircraft — for instance, in the case of the loss of reliable speed data, the autopilot turns off and gives control back to the pilot," Greczyn's statement continued. Greczyn said fly-by-wire has no disadvantages and that no plans exist to issue "any sort" of alert the system. Asked if a pilot can disengage the fly-by-wire system in the event of an emergency like the one experienced by Flight 447, Grecyzn replied, "It's akin to shutting off your ABS in your car as you are skidding on ice. You can do it, but you wouldn't want to."

Labels: Airbus, Aircraft Industry, Boeing, EU, Fly-By-Wire