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Meeting	ACGS Committee Meeting 118 - Minneapolis, MN - October 2016
Agenda Location	6 SUBCOMMITTEE A – AERONAUTIC AND SURFACE VEHICLES 6.2 B-47 Fly-By-Wire Development Program 1966-1969
Title	B-47 Fly-By-Wire Development Program 1966-1969
Presenter	Gavin Jenney
Available Downloads*	presentation
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Abstract	The presentation describes the implementation and flight test results of an electro-hydraulic primary (Fly-By-Wire) control system in a B-47 aircraft. The program was performed as an "in-house" Air Force program at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio from 1966 through 1969. The program was intended to demonstrate the feasibility of using a electrical control for aircraft primary flight control. The development program was conducted in three phases, each phase corresponding to a different pitch axis mechanization. Phase I used an electrical position transducer mounted to the normal control column. The position transducer drove an electro-hydraulic actuator mounted in parallel with the normal pitch axis actuator. Phase II used a side-stick controller, pitch rate and nose acceleration feedback in combination with the components of the Phase I system. Phase II roll control by the side-stick used a modified aircraft autopilot channel and added roll rate feedback. Phase III added a dual-fail operate (quad redundant) actuator with failure injection to the Phase II system. A total of over one hundred flight test hours were accumulated on the Fly-By-Wire systems. A improvement in dynamic input response at high q was obtained from the Phase I mechanization. A general improvement in the handling qualities was obtained with the side-stick controlled Phase II and III mechanizations. The quad-redundant Hydro-logic removed all injected failures with negligible deviation of the aircraft and did not exhibit random disconnect characteristics. The program demonstrated the performance advantages of Fly-By-Wire on a medium sized aircraft and quad redundancy using hydraulic logic on the output actuator of the aircraft control system.