4 ms·

And helicopters are aerodynamically unstable as well.

• rocqua 7y ago
  They don't require active stabilization by software, which is the issue here. Specifically, does the plane become unfly-able if your computer crashes. It is fine if a fighter jet crashes when the electronics fail. Much less so for a passenger yet.
  • Rychard 7y ago
    > It is fine if a fighter jet crashes when the electronics fail. I certainly hope not.
    • tylerhou 7y ago
      It’s fine in the sense that a fighter jet can glide for quite a while and even land without engines. If that’s not possible, the pilot can steer it to crash in a remote area and the pilot can escape.
      • Max-q 7y ago
        A modern fighter jet is not a good glider. An F-16 can't fly without the computer. Have you tried to sit in the cockpit? The sticks don't even move, they are pressure sensitive only. You are right about the ejection, that's how the pilots survive a computer malfunction, with a complete hull loss as consequence.
    • blt 7y ago
      But it is. Militaries like to play the "protect our troops at all costs" card when it helps them, but ultimately they make decisions based on a nonzero amount of acceptable deaths.
      • azernik 7y ago
        Or alternately phrased - low performance is also a safety risk in the military context. Increasing accident death rate in exchange for reducing the enemy-action death rate can be a good tradeoff.
    • deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]