3 ms·
The scaled assistance you're referring to is the hydraulic system. Airplanes are supposed to be light-touch because you need very fine movement control to bala
by bdamm 8y ago
The scaled assistance you're referring to is the hydraulic system.
Airplanes are supposed to be light-touch because you need very fine movement control to balance the aircraft while landing. Think of the work required to move a pencil. That's about the level of effort a plane is supposed to require. But with the trim working against the pilot, the control required could be more like lifting a 50lb sack.
Yes, most pilots can lift a 50lb sack. Can you lift and hold a 50lb sack for, say, an hour? Not many people can.
(Without hydraulics, the forces would simply toss the pilot's body around. No possibility of control.)
- VBprogrammer 8y agoAlso worth noting that the reason we don't simply scale the forces down to the point a pilot could easily handle them is that above manouvering speed an aircraft can be damaged by full control deflection.
- bdamm 8y agoGood point. This is something I bet most non-pilots don't know. A pilot can actually damage or destroy an airplane through control inputs alone. In fact there was a case of a pilot intentionally destroying his airliner by rapidly slamming the rudder back and forth, but I can't find the flight reference now. And there are other examples, such as AA flight 587 where the large control inputs were causal in the crash that killed all aboard.