In article >,
"Pete C." > wrote:

> Mike Romain wrote:
> >
> > I have always gotten a laugh out of such a foolish system.
> >
> > The way I understand it, basically if the power fails when you are at
> > speed, you crash, just like on an airplane. I guess you could also put
> > your head between your legs and kiss your ass good-bye like they do on
> > planes too... ;-)
> >
> > Mike
> > 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
> > 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
> > Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
> > Aug./05 http://www.imagestation.com/album/in...?id=2120343242
> > (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)
> >
>
> Most of the fighter jets are fly-by-wire and they generally don't have
> problems with failures of this system. The fly-by-wire system is
> multiply redundant and rather expensive though. The main reason for it
> is the fact that it allows faster response and allows the computers to
> assist in stabilizing some inherently unstable aircraft designs.

The F-16 - Proof that even a brick will fly if you can cram a big enough
engine into it...


> In the auto world drive-by-wire would be constrained by the price points
> and the multiple redundancy would probably be sacrificed. At auto speeds
> the faster response of by-wire technology is not needed, so the only
> possible reason to use the more expensive technology would be to allow
> the computer to try to compensate for a drivers lack of skill.

Or more accurately phrased, to allow the computer to *ATTEMPT* to
compensate for what it *PERCEIVES* as operator inability.

When I turn the steering wheel, the wheels better move correspondingly
*EVERY* time. Not "just when the engine is on", not "When there's a
charged battery installed", not "When the computer thinks that what I'm
doing is OK", but *EVERY* *SINGLE* *TIME* *NO* *MATTER* *WHAT*. While
I'm behind the wheel, I will accept *ABSOLUTELY NOTHING* less than
*TOTAL*, godlike control of that vehicle, subject to *NO* influences
outside of my own decisions and actions.


(By way of illustration, a few years ago in europe, a "fly by wire"
plane decided it knew more than the pilots - Pilots said "We gotta
hammer on the power and crank the bejeezus out of the controls so we can
lift, or we're gonna crash!". Fly-by-wire system said "Sorry, you can't
do that", and proceeded to "fix their mistakes" by throttling down and
not permitting them to crank the control surfaces to the needed degree,
which caused the plane to crash and burn. After something like that, I
can't see *ANYBODY* with a functioning brain-cell wanting anything to do
with getting into a machine that might decide at any time that what
they're trying to do is "off limits".)

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
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