

The computers also receive information from the control surfaces of the aircraft and from the pilot's aircraft control devices and autopilot. Information from the ADIRU is fed into one of several flight control computers (primary and secondary flight control). ADIRUs are part of the air data inertial reference system, which, on the Airbus is linked to eight air data modules: three are linked to pitot tubes and five are linked to static sources. This is fed along with GPS data, into three redundant processing units known as air data inertial reference units (ADIRUs) that act both as an air data reference and inertial reference.

In addition there are two flight control data computers (FCDC) that read information from the sensors, such as air data (airspeed, altitude). The aircraft is controlled by three primary control computers (captain's, first officer's, and standby) and two secondary control computers (captain's and first officer's). Illustration of the air-data reference system on Airbus A330 These electronic systems are lighter than the old mechanical systems and can also protect the aircraft from overstress situations, allowing designers to reduce over-engineered components, which further reduces the aircraft's weight. These newer aircraft use electronic control systems to increase safety and performance while saving aircraft weight. The other is Boeing's fly-by-wire system, used in the Boeing 777, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Boeing 747-8. The most well-known is the system of normal, alternate, direct laws and mechanical alternate control laws of the Airbus A320- A380. Two aircraft manufacturers produce commercial passenger aircraft with primary flight computers that can perform under different flight control modes. Įlectronic flight control systems (EFCS) also provide augmentation in normal flight, such as increased protection of the aircraft from overstress or providing a more comfortable flight for passengers by recognizing and correcting for turbulence and providing yaw damping. Ī reduction of electronic flight control can be caused by the failure of a computational device, such as the flight control computer or an information providing device, such as the Air Data Inertial Reference Unit (ADIRU).

A330 cockpit protection how to#
In aircraft in which the flight control system is fly-by-wire, the movements the pilot makes to the yoke or joystick in the cockpit, to control the flight, are converted to electronic signals, which are transmitted to the flight control computers that determine how to move each control surface to provide the aircraft movement the pilot ordered. The control surface movements depend on which of several modes the flight computer is in.
A330 cockpit protection software#
These are governed by computational laws which assign flight control modes during flightĪ flight control mode or flight control law is a computer software algorithm that transforms the movement of the yoke or joystick, made by an aircraft pilot, into movements of the aircraft control surfaces. Modern aircraft designs like the Boeing 777 rely on sophisticated flight computers to aid and protect the aircraft in flight.
