Aircraft

Flight Control
Systems
1
 Chapter-four
Flight Control Systems
Topics covered in this chapter:
Flight Controls Fundamentals
Flight Controls System & Interfaces Mach Trim
TE Flap System
Aileron & Aileron Trim Control LE Flap & Slat Control System
System Stall Protection & Warning system
Spoiler Control System Takeoff Warning
Rudder & Rudder Trim Control Gust Lock Systems
System
Yaw Damper System
Elevator & Tab Control System
Horizontal Stabilizer Trim Control 2
Flight Controls Fundamentals
An aircraft control system is a set of control surfaces and
corresponding devices and mechanisms (electronic, electrical,
hydraulic, mechanical) that ensure the selection and maintenance of
the aircraft's flight direction.
Aircraft flight control systems are fundamental to the operation and
safety of an aircraft, allowing pilots to maneuver and control the
plane during various phases of flight.

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The flight control system of an aircraft is responsible for maintaining
the aircraft’s stability and maneuverability, allowing pilots to control the
plane’s attitude, speed, and trajectory. These systems enable the aircraft
to perform essential functions such as taking off, cruising, and landing
safely and efficiently.
The flight control system consists of:
 cockpit controls,
 sensors,
 actuators (hydraulic, mechanical or electrical) and
 computers.
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 Types of Aircraft Flight Control Systems

 Aircraft flight control systems can be classified into three main categories
based on their design and complexity (type of Actuation power):
 Mechanical Flight Control Systems: The simplest and oldest type of flight
control system, mechanical systems use direct mechanical linkages, such as
cables and pulleys, to connect the pilot’s controls to the control surfaces.
 Hydro-Mechanical Flight Control Systems: In these systems, mechanical
linkages are combined with hydraulic actuators to reduce the physical effort
required to control the aircraft.
 Fly-By-Wire (FBW) Systems: The most advanced type of flight control
system, FBW systems replace mechanical linkages with electronic signals.
The pilot’s inputs are sent to flight control computers, which process the
signals and send commands to the actuators. 5
 Aircraft flight control systems can be classified into three
main categories based on their function they utilized
1. Primary.
2. Secondary.
3. Auxiliary

An aircraft has 3 axes of control;

 The longitudinal axis
 The lateral axis
 The vertical axis 6
 The longitudinal axis- runs along the center of the fuselage, from the nose to tail.
Movement about this axis is called ‘rolling’
 The lateral axis- runs from wing to tip. Movement about this axis is called ‘pitching’
 The vertical axis- passes vertically through the center of the aircraft. Movement about
7
this axis is called ‘yawing’
 Flight Control Surfaces

The requirements for flight control surfaces vary greatly between one
aircraft and another, depending upon the role, range and agility needs
of the vehicle.
The flight control surfaces are normally hinged or movable airfoils
designed to change the attitude of the aircraft by changing the airflow
over the aircraft's surfaces during flight.
According to the function they utilized they are classified as:
1. Primary.
2. Secondary.
3. Auxiliary 8
Primary flight controls
 Since the dawn of heavier-than-air flight and the discovery of the
three axis flight control network, airplanes continue to employ the
three primary controls:
 elevator,
 aileron,
 rudder.
 The primary flight controls provide the aerodynamic force necessary
to make the aircraft follow a desired flight path.
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10
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1. Define aircraft flight control system
2. The flight control system according to the function they utilized
they are classified as
______________, _______________&_______________.
3. Yoke (control stick) "turns" right: right aileron up, left one down
causes a roll to the ______________

Airframe Systems I
Quiz #5 14
15
 Secondary Flight Control

 Elevator Trim Tab System

 Rudder Trim Tab System
Elevator Trim Tab System
 Elevator trim balances the control force necessary to maintain the aerodynamic
down force on the tail.
 When aircraft is flying, a lot of trim could be required to maintain the desired
angle of attack.
 This mainly applies to slow flight, where maintaining a nose-up attitude
requires a lot of trim.
 An important design parameter for aircraft is the stability of the aircraft when
trimmed for level flight.
 Any disturbances such as gusts or turbulence will be damped over a short
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period of time and the aircraft will return to its level flight trimmed airspeed.
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Rudder Trim Tab System
 Trim doesn't only apply to the elevator, as there is also trim for the
rudder and ailerons.
 The use of this is to counter the effects of slip stream, or to counter
the effects of the center of gravity being to one side.
 This can be caused by a larger weight on one side of the aircraft
compared to the other, such as when one fuel tank has a lot more
fuel in it than the other, or when there are heavier people on one
side of the aircraft than the other.
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 Auxiliary flight control

 Flap Control System

 High Lift Devices
 Flaps : Trailing Edge Flaps, Leading Edge Flaps
 Flaps are hinged surfaces on the trailing edge of the wings of a fixed-wing aircraft.
 As flaps are extended, the stalling speed of the aircraft is reduced.
 Flaps are also used on the leading edge of the wings of some high-speed jet aircraft, where
they may be called Krueger flaps.
 Flaps increase the camber of the wing airfoil, thus raising the lift coefficient. This increase in
lift coefficient allows the aircraft to generate a given amount of lift with a slower speed.
 Extending the flaps will reduce the stalling speed of an aircraft.
 They also increase drag which helps to slow the aircraft.
 Trailing Edge Flaps:
 Flap operation is used for landings and takeoffs, during which the airplane is in close
proximity to the ground where the margin for error is small
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 Leading Edge Flaps: Leading edge flaps increase stall margin
• The flap (termed slat by some manufacturers) and slot create additional lift at
the lower speeds used during takeoff and landing Other installations have
permanent slots built in the leading edge of the wing.
 There are four different types of flaps that you’ll see on airplanes:
– Plain flaps
– Split flaps
– Slotted flaps
– Fowler flaps

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 At cruising speeds, the trailing edge and leading edge flaps (slats) are retracted
into the wing proper.
 Slats
are movable control surfaces attached to the leading edges of the wings.
When the slat is closed, it forms the leading edge of the wing.
 When in the open position (extended forward), a slot is created between the slat
and the wing leading edge. At low airspeeds, this increases lift and improves
handling characteristics, allowing the aircraft to be controlled at airspeeds below
the normal landing speed.

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 High Lift Devices

Spoilers
 On low drag aircraft like sailplanes, spoilers are
used to disrupt airflow over the wing and greatly
increase the amount of drag.
 This allows a glider pilot to lose altitude without
gaining excessive airspeed.
 Spoilers are sometimes called "lift dumpers".
Spoilers that can be used asymmetrically are called
spoilerons and are able to affect an aircraft's roll.

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 Slats
 Also known as Leading Edge Devices.
 Are extensions to the front of a wing for lift augmentation, and are intended
to reduce the stalling speed by altering the air flow over the wing.
 May be fixed or retractable.
 Fixed slats give excellent slow speed and STOL (short take off and landing)
capabilities, but compromise higher speed performance.
 Retractable slats provide reduced stalling speed for take-off and landing, but
are retracted for cruising.
 Types of Slat Systems:
Automatic:
Fixed:
Powered: 24
25
 LIFT DUMP AND SPEED BRAKES

o Lift and speed decreasing devices are the speed brakes and spoilers.
o In some installations, there are two types of spoilers. Ground spoilers are
extended only after the aircraft is in the ground, thereby assisting in the braking
action.
o Flight spoilers assists in lateral control by being extended whenever the aileron
on the same wing is deflected upward from neutral.
o When actuated as speed brakes, the spoiler panels on both wings raise up.
o Fight spoilers may also be located along the sides, underneath the fuselage, or
back at the tail.
o In some aircraft designs, the wing panel on the up aileron side rises more than
the wing panel on the down aileron side. This provides speed brake operation
and lateral control simultaneously. 26
 YAW DAMPER
o One common control system is the yaw damper used on many large aircraft.
o Typically associated with aircraft using swept wings that generate a motion
referred to as a Dutch roll, the purpose of the yaw damper system is to counter
the rolling tendency of the aircraft during flight.
o Yaw dampers work when the aircraft is controlled manually by the flight crew or
during operations. involving the autopilot.
o The yaw damper system provides inputs to the rudder in proportion to the yaw
rate of the aircraft and in a direction that negates the oscillations that would
otherwise take place during flight.
o Aside from increasing the stability of the aircraft, the yaw damper provides a
smoother ride for the passengers. 27
Mach Trim System
A Mach trim system provides speed stability at the higher Mach numbers.
Mach trim is automatically accomplished above Mach .615 by adjusting the
elevators with respect to the stabilizer as speed increases. The flight control
computers use Mach information from the ADIRU to compute a Mach trim
actuator position.
The Mach trim actuator repositions the elevator feel and centering unit which
adjusts the control column neutral position.

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 MACH TRIM

o Airfoils traveling at low subsonic speeds have a centre of pressure acting on the
wing that is approximately one quarter the distance of the chord, aft of the
leading edge.
o The centre of pressure does not move much until the aircraft begins traveling at
high speeds.
o When the aircraft passes through the air at speeds around Mach 0.7 and above,
the centre of pressure begins to move aft on the wing.
o When the aircraft reaches its critical Mach number, shock waves may develop
over the wing. The area in front of the shock waves develops high lift.
o This action continues to travel aft as the aircraft gains more speed.
o Mach, or the speed of sound, is not a constant value.
o The speed of sound varies largely with changes in temperature. 29
o Another factor that enters the controllability of th airplane involves coffin corner.
o Pilots strive to keep the airplane out of the portion of the flight envelope
known as coffin corner.
o Mach trim basically trims the nose of the aircraft up as Mach tuck begins to
act on the aircraft.
o Most systems of Mach trim are automatic in that the flight crew does not
have to manually change trim settings.
o The crew may notice changes in trim as the control network implements
Mach trim input.
o To ensure the crew does not lose Mach trim during flight, airplanes will
typically have redundant Mach trim systems.
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 GUST LOCK SYSTEMS
 Aircraft that use mechanical flight control systems will typically include a
method for locking the controls when the aircraft is parked.
 Normally referred to as gust locks, these mechanism may either be separate from
the control system or an integral part of the control.
 Separate gust locks may consist of a device that extends from a stationary part of
the aircraft, such as the wing, and passes over and locks in place the flight control
surface (e.g., the ailerons).
 Another technique is to lock the movement of the flight controls with pins and
other devices. Rather than being on the exterior of the aircraft, such locking
devices are installed in the flight compartment to keep the controls from moving.
 By physically locking the flight controls in place, damage to the structure or
control network is eliminated during times when the aircraft is parked and the31
 Gust locks will typically include a warning streamer with the following or
similarly worded phrase: "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT.“
 Large aircraft that have hydraulic assist systems to move flight control surfaces
often include gust dampers in their power control units.
 By using hydraulic fluid contained within the power control units that drive the
flight control surfaces during flight, movement of the control surfaces by wind
feeds a force into the hydraulic units.
 These mechanisms provide gust snubbing by forcing hydraulic fluid through
special bypass valves and other devices.
 The end result is that the flight control surfaces are protected from wind gust
damage. 32
 STALL PROTECTION/WARNING SYSTEMS

• Stall warning systems incorporated on modern day jetliners are far more
advanced than those used on smaller general aviation airplanes.
• Stall warning systems typically involve multiple computers that monitor the
• configuration of the aircraft and d flight data.
• Annlyzing those bytes of information, the stall warning computers calculate
when a airplane is nearing a stall condition.
• In such instances, a stick shaker that provides a violent shaking motion to the
control yoke will give the crew a warning well in advance of a stall, usually.
• Some airplanes include a stick nudger or pusher that applies a nose down input
to the elevator in an attempt to avoid the impending stall.
• The flight crew has the option of overcoming the input made by the stick 33
nudger or pusher.
• The need for stick nudgers or pushers is due to the stall recovery characteristics of
many larger airplanes.
• Where the stick nudger or pusher is designed to avoid a stall, the stick shaker is a stall
warning mechanism
• The stall speed of the aircraft is affect by a number of variables.
• In calculating the potential stall, the computers look at the position of the flaps, slats,
speed brakes, airspeed, angle of attack, and other parameters.
• Failure to take the proper corrective action during a stall may lead to serious
consequences.
• Airplane stalls have claimed many lives over the history of flight.
• Angle of attack sensors commonly use a vane on the side of the fuselage that provides
data regarding the angle that the aircraft is passing through the atmosphere.
• As the airplane changes its angle of attack, the vane reacts by rotating to a new
position that is parallel to the airflow passing across it and sending a signal to the 34
appropriate computer(s).
• As the data provided by the angle of attack sensor are critical to the safety of the
aircraft during flight, the device is normally equipped with a heater to prevent the
build-up of ice.
• Unsafe for takeoff configuration warning is typically provided on large aircraft.
• This warning, often an aural warning sound in conjunction with a visual warning
light(s), is given when there is an unsafe condition prior to takeoff.
• Such conditions include the improper position of the flaps or slats, the horizontal
stabilizer position, the extension of speed brakes, the parking brake set, and so on.
• The warning is normally triggered when the crew advances the throttle and a problem
is present.
• The value of this system is difficult to assess as attempting a takeoff when the airplane
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is improperly configured is likely to result in a tragic incident.
• Landing configuration warning is provided when the airplane is improperly set up for
landing.
• One common warning occurs when the all members of the landing gear are not locked
in the down position and a throttle lever is reduced to a low power setting.
• A warning is frequently given when the flaps are extended for landing and the landing
gear is not down and locked.
• The extension of spoilers at low altitudes is likely to provide an unsafe landing
configuration warning.
• As with the unsafe for takeoff warning network, the crew receives an aural and visual
warning when the landing configuration is improper.
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Stabilizer
The horizontal stabilizer is positioned by a single electric trim motor controlled through either the
stab trim switches on the control wheel or autopilot trim. The stabilizer may also be positioned by
manually rotating the stabilizer trim wheel.
Stabilizer Trim
Stabilizer trim switches on each control wheel actuate the electric trim motor through the main
electric stabilizer trim circuit when the airplane is flown manually. With the autopilot engaged,
stabilizer trim is accomplished through the autopilot stabilizer trim circuit. The main electric and
autopilot stabilizer trim have two speed modes: high speed with flaps extended and low speed
with flaps retracted. If the autopilot is engaged, actuating either pair of stabilizer trim switches
automatically disengages the autopilot. The stabilizer trim wheels rotate whenever electric
stabilizer trim is actuated.
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 CONTROL SYSTEM OPERATION

 Aircraft flight control systems can be classified into three main categories
based on their design and complexity (type of Actuation power):
 Mechanical Flight Control Systems:
 Hydro-Mechanical Flight Control Systems:
 Fly-By-Wire (FBW) Systems:
 In addition, the non-manual systems can be sub-classified as either
Power operated or Power assisted
 On large transport aircraft, both control surfaces and operating systems are
duplicated (at least) to provide redundancy
 Effectiveness depends on: Distance from aircraft CG, Control surface area,
Degree of deflection & Dynamic pressure (IAS)
 Controls are said to be reversible if aerodynamic loads provide feedback
(feel) to the pilot; they are irreversible if no such feedback is provided. 39
Such systems need artificial feel
A manual (Mechanical) flight
control system uses a collection of
mechanical parts such as:
• pushrods,
• tension cables,
• pulleys,
• counterweights,
• sometimes chains
to transmit the forces applied to the
cockpit controls directly to the
control surfaces.
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Need for Powered Control System
 The Complexity and Weight of the system (Mechanical) increased
with Size and Performance of the aircraft.
 When the pilot’s action is not directly sufficient for the control, the
main option is a powered system that assists the pilot.
 The hydraulic system has demonstrated to be a more suitable solution
for actuation in terms of reliability, safety, weight per unit power and
flexibility, with respect to the electrical system

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Powered Assisted Control System
 The pilot, via the cabin components, sends a signal, or demand, to a
valve that opens ports through which high pressure hydraulic fluid
flows and operates one or more actuators.
 The valve, that is located near the actuators, can be signaled in two
different ways: mechanically or electrically
 Mechanical signalling is obtained by push-pull rods, or more
commonly by cables and pulleys
 Electrical signalling is a solution of more modern and sophisticated
vehicles 43
The basic principle of the hydraulic control is simple, but two aspects
must be noticed when a powered control is introduced:
 The system must control the surface in a proportional way, i.e. the
surface response (deflection) must be function to the pilot’s demand
(stick deflection, for instance)
 The pilot that with little effort acts on a control valve must have a
feedback on the maneuver intensity
 The first problem is solved by using (hydraulic) servo-mechanisms,
where the components are linked in such a way to introduce an
actuator stroke proportional to the pilot’s demand 44
 The pilot, in normal hydraulic operating conditions, is requested for a
very low effort, necessary to contrast the mechanical frictions of the
linkage and the movement of the control valve
 The pilot is then no more aware of the load condition being imposed
to the aircraft.
 An artificial feel is introduced in powered systems, acting directly on
the cabin control stick or pedals.
 The simplest solution is a spring system, then responding to the pilot’s
demand with a force proportional to the stick deflection; this solution
has of course the limit to be not sensitive to the actual flight 45
conditions.
 A more sophisticated artificial feel is the so-called Q feel. This system
receives data from the pitot-static probes, reading the dynamic
pressure, or the difference between total (pt) and static (ps) pressure,
that is proportional to the aircraft speed v through the air density ρ:

 This signal is used to modulate a hydraulic cylinder that increases the

stiffness in the artificial feel system, in such a way that the pilot is
given a contrast force in the pedals or stick that is also proportional to
the aircraft speed. 46
Disadvantages of Mechanical and Hydro-Mechanical Systems
• Heavy and require careful routing of flight control cables through the
aircraft using pulleys, cranks, tension cables and hydraulic pipes.
• They require redundant backup to deal with failures, which again
increases weight.
• Limited ability to compensate for changing aerodynamic conditions

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Fly –By –Wire System (FBW)
 The term "fly-by-wire" implies a purely electrically-signalled control system
 It is a computer-configured controls, where a computer system is interposed
between the operator and the final control actuators or surfaces
 It modifies the manual inputs of the pilot in accordance with control parameters
 These are carefully developed and validated in order to produce maximum
operational effect without compromising safety
 In the 80’s the digital technique was imported from military into civil aviation by
Airbus, first with the A320, then followed by A319, A321, A330, A340, Boeing
777 and A380 (scheduled for 2005).
 This architecture is based on computer signal processing
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Operation
 The pilot’s demand is first of all transduced into electrical signal in the
cabin and sent to a group of independent computers (Airbus
architecture substitute the cabin control column with a side stick)
 The computers sample also data concerning the flight conditions and
servo-valves and actuators positions
 The pilot’s demand is then processed and sent to the actuator, properly
tailored to the actual flight status.

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The flight data used by the system mainly depend on the aircraft
category; in general the following data are sampled and processed:
– pitch, roll, yaw rate and linear accelerations
– Angle of attack and sideslip
– Airspeed/Mach number, Pressure, Altitude and radio altimeter
indications
–Stick and pedal demands
–Other cabin commands such as landing gear condition, thrust
lever position, etc.
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FBW – Stability
•Three gyroscopes fitted with sensors are fitted in the aircraft to sense
movement changes in the pitch, roll and yaw axes.
•Any movement (from straight and level flight for example) results in
signals being sent to the computer which again moves the relevant
control actuators, however, the input is done without the pilot's
knowledge; the cockpit controls do not move

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54
 FBW – Safety and Redundancy
 Aircraft systems may be quadruplexed (four independent channels)
in order to prevent loss of signals in the case of failure of one or
even two channels.
 High performance aircraft that have FBW controls (also called
CCVs or Control-Configured Vehicles) may be deliberately
designed to have low or even negative aerodynamic stability in
some flight regimes, the rapid-reacting CCV controls compensating
for the lack of natural stability
 Pre-flight safety checks of a fly-by-wire system are often performed
using Built-In Test Equipment (BITE).
 Any failure will be indicated to the crews 55
 FBW – Advantages
 Flight envelope protection (the computers will reject and tune pilot’s demands that
might exceed the airframe load factors)
 Increase of stability and handling qualities across the full flight envelope, including
the possibility of flying unstable vehicles
 Turbulence suppression and consequent decrease of fatigue loads and increase of
passenger comfort
 Use of thrust vectoring to augment or replace lift aerodynamic control, then extending
the aircraft flight envelope
 Drag reduction by an optimised trim setting
 Higher stability during release of tanks and weapons
 Easier interfacing to auto-pilot and other automatic flight control systems
 Weight reduction (mechanical linkages are substituted by wirings)
 Maintenance reduction
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 Reduction of airlines’ pilot training costs (flight handling becomes very similar in an whole aircraft family)
57
 Digital Fly-By-Wire (DFBW)
 A digital fly-by-wire flight control system is similar to analog system. However,
the signal processing is done by digital computers and the pilot literally can "fly-
via-computer".
 Increases in flexibility of the flight control system, since the digital computers
can receive input from any aircraft sensor (such as the altimeters and the pitot
tubes).
 Increase in electronic stability - system is less dependent on the values of critical
electrical components in an analog controller
 The computers "read" position and force inputs from the pilot's controls and
aircraft sensors.
 They solve differential equations to determine the appropriate command signals
that move the flight controls in order to carry out the intentions of the pilot 58
 The programming of the digital computers enable flight envelope protection.
 Aircraft designers precisely tailor an aircraft's handling characteristics, to stay
within the overall limits of what is possible given the aerodynamics and structure
of the aircraft.
 Flight-control computers continuously "fly" the aircraft, pilot's workloads can be
reduced
 In military and naval applications, it is now possible to fly military aircraft that
have relaxed stability.
 Better maneuverability during combat and training flights and " carefree
handling" because stalling, spinning. and other undesirable performances are
prevented automatically by the computers
 Enable inherently unstable combat aircraft, such as the F-117 Nighthawk and the
B-2 Spirit flying wing to fly in usable and safe manners 59
 DFBW - Redundancy
 If one of the flight-control computers crashes - or is damaged in combat; or
suffers from "insanity" caused by electromagnetic pulses - the others overrule
the faulty one (or even two of them), they continue flying the aircraft safely, and
they can either turn off or re-boot the faulty computers.
 Any flight-control computer whose results disagree with the others is ruled to be
faulty, and it is either ignored or re-booted.
 Most of the early digital fly-by-wire aircraft also had an analog electrical, a
mechanical, or a hydraulic back-up flight control system
 The Space Shuttle has, in addition to its redundant set of four digital computers
running its primary flight-control software, a fifth back-up computer running a
separately developed, reduced-function, software flight-control system - one that
can be commanded to take over in the event that a fault ever affects all of the60
computers in the other four.
 This back-up system serves to reduce the risk of total flight-control-
system failure ever happening because of a general-purpose flight
software fault has escaped notice in the other four computers.
 For airliners, flight-control redundancy improves their safety
 Fly-by-wire control systems also improve economy in flight because
they are lighter, and they eliminate the need for many mechanical, and
heavy, flight-control mechanisms
 Most modern airliners have computerized systems that control their jet
engine throttles, air inlets, fuel storage and distribution system, in such
a way to minimize their consumption of jet fuel. Thus, digital control 61
systems do their best to reduce the cost of flights
 Engine Control Systems
 To allow the engine to perform at maximum efficiency for a given condition
 Aids the pilot to control and monitor the operation of the aircraft's power plant
 Originally, engine control systems consisted of simple mechanical linkages
controlled by the pilot then evolved and became the responsibility of the third
pilot-certified crew member, the flight engineer
 By moving throttle levers directly connected to the engine, the pilot or the flight
engineer could control fuel flow, power output, and many other engine
parameters.
 Following mechanical means of engine control came the introduction of analog
electronic engine control.
 Analog electronic control varies an electrical signal to communicate the desired
engine settings 62
 In the 1970s NASA and Pratt and Whitney experimented with the first
experimental FADEC, first flown on an F-111 fitted with a highly modified Pratt
& Whitney TF30 left engine
 Pratt & Whitney F100 – First Military Engine
 Pratt & Whitney PW2000 - First Civil Engine fitted with FADEC
 Pratt & Whitney PW4000 - First commercial "dual FADEC" engine.
 The Harrier II Pegasus engine by Dowty & Smiths Industries Controls - The first
FADEC in service

63
 Functions
 FADEC works by receiving multiple input variables of the current flight
condition including air density, throttle lever position, engine temperatures,
engine pressures, and many other parameters
 The inputs are received by the EEC and analyzed up to 70 times per second
 Engine operating parameters such as fuel flow, stator vane position, bleed valve
position, and others are computed from this data and applied as appropriate
 It controls engine starting and restarting.
 Its basic purpose is to provide optimum engine efficiency for a given flight
condition.
 It also allows the manufacturer to program engine limitations and receive engine
health and maintenance reports. For example, to avoid exceeding a certain
engine temperature, the FADEC can be programmed to automatically take the 64
necessary measures without pilot intervention.
 The flight crew first enters flight data such as wind conditions, runway length,
or cruise altitude, into the flight management system (FMS). The FMS uses this
data to calculate power settings for different phases of the flight.
 At takeoff, the flight crew advances the throttle to a predetermined setting, or
opts for an auto-throttle takeoff if available.
 The FADECs now apply the calculated takeoff thrust setting by sending an
electronic signal to the engines
 There is no direct linkage to open fuel flow. This procedure can be repeated for
any other phase of flight
 In flight, small changes in operation are constantly made to maintain efficiency.
 The flight crew has no means of manually overriding the FADEC
 True full authority digital engine controls have no form of manual override
65
available, placing full authority over the operating parameters of the engine in
Safety
 With the operation of the engines so heavily relying on
automation, safety is a great concern.
 Redundancy is provided in the form of two or more, separate
identical digital channels.
 Each channel may provide all engine functions without
restriction.
 FADEC also monitors a variety of analog, digital and discrete
data coming from the engine subsystems and related aircraft
systems, providing for fault tolerant engine control 66
 Advantages
 Better fuel efficiency
 Automatic engine protection against out-of-tolerance operations
 Safer as the multiple channel FADEC computer provides redundancy
in case of failure
 Care-free engine handling, with guaranteed thrust settings
 Ability to use single engine type for wide thrust requirements by just
reprogramming the FADECs
 Provides semi-automatic engine starting
 Better systems integration with engine and aircraft systems
 Can provide engine long-term health monitoring and diagnostics
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 Reduces the number of parameters to be monitored by flight crews
 Disadvantages
 No form of manual override available, placing full authority over the
operating parameters of the engine in the hands of the computer.
 If a total FADEC failure occurs, the engine fails.
 In the event of a total FADEC failure, pilots have no way of manually
controlling the engines for a restart, or to otherwise control the
engine.
 With any single point of failure, the risk can be mitigated with
redundant FADECs
 High system complexity compared to hydromechanical, analogue or
manual control systems
 High system development and validation effort due to the complexity68