5 ms·
To add to your hypothesis - making a change to the fly-by-wire system was probably much cheaper than making airframe changes to make the aircraft more neutral i
by rpiguy 8y ago
To add to your hypothesis - making a change to the fly-by-wire system was probably much cheaper than making airframe changes to make the aircraft more neutral in flight (airframe changes which would likely also negatively affect fuel economy).
So Boeing took the cheap rout and decided to have the computer handle the pitch-up tendencies of the aircraft...
This kind of fix is quite common on fighter aircraft which are purposely designed to not be neutral/stable in flight for better handling characteristics (among many other reasons).
I have no idea how common this kind of fix is on a passenger aircraft.
- PaulHoule 8y agoIt is a violation of the brand expectations pilots have for Boeing. Boeing introduced fly by wire after Airbus and it did it in such a way to preserve the feel of flying a plane, in particular if you have a fight with the system you could pull harder and win. Some pilots have strong feelings about this and are loathe to switch from Boeing to Airbus or vice versa.
- ChicagoBoy11 8y agoAs a pilot (sadly not a Boeing, or anything close to that side), I think this is a non-trivial point. Every second professional airline pilot you will talk to will talk about that philosophy difference between Airbus and Boeing, and 99.999% of them will take Boeing's side. Sadly, pilots really don't have much of a say in those discussions. They'll fly what's put in front of them, but I can assure you that all feel safer being given a plane not trying to actively fight them.
- coryfklein 8y agoAre you saying now we have pilots trained for commercial that are flying planes designed more like fighter jets? Eeek.