This
180-page work, a part of "The NASA History Series," covers the entire history
of NASA's F-8 digital flight project, from the first F-8C flight at Edwards
Air Force Base in May 1972. It provides many insights into the nature
of flight, and the problems of using advanced digital controls.
The first
chapter devotes many pages to details about the Wright Brothers experiments
with flight stability, then discusses experiences with the Curtis JN-5
Jenny during World War I. There is a section devoted to the German
A-4 (V-2) rocket, describing Von Braun's approach to rocket flight control.
The text also covers the work of Avro Canada, designing the advanced Avro
CF-105 aircraft--the first to use fly-by-wire (at least with the yaw damper).
There's
information about the development of fly-by-wire technology for the Mercury
capsule, the Lunar Module of the Apollo spacecraft, and Boeing's work on
the X-20 Dyna-Soar project. There is plenty of physics and engineering
mixed with the history, too--in fact, this book provides a good introduction
to the entire subject of flight and its control.
An entire
chapter is devoted to the origins of NASA's involvement in fly-by-wire
research, commencing with the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (in 1961).
The text describes in detail the digital systems used on the F-8C, F-18,
F16, F-117, B-2, and F-22, as well as several commercial aircraft (like
the Boeing 777 and Airbus A-320).
The author
explains the need for, and types of sensors involved in flight, as well
as gyroscopic instruments, inertial measurement units, and the role of
computers to integrate these devices. First analog computers are
explained (starting with the ENIAC), then the subject turns to digital
circuits. Effectors and actuators are described, along with the development
and evolution of software to drive these systems.
You'll
relive the NASA experiences developing reliability for fly-by-wire technology--including
early problems with computers, logic, redundancy, software, and flight
simulators. (Punched card technology dominated the early efforts,
along with magnetic tape drives.) You will also see exactly how the
new digital equipment was installed, and how the aircraft were modified
and converted for fly-by-wire tests.
Here's
a great opportunity to meet the men who made technological history.
The story of each of the early test flights is told in vivid detail.
Problems are described, and solutions are investigated. Flight preparations
are explained. Pilots are interviewed, and their stories told.
Flight logs and chronologies are presented in great detail.
Then
the story continues, telling how the early fly-by-wire concept was adapted
to work in the then-new Space Shuttle fleet in 1977. And, in the
last chapters of the book, you learn details about the process of certification
of commercial fly-by-wire airliners.
