HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Aug. 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Department is replacing manual flight controls in some UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters with fly-by-wire technology.
In the converted helicopters flight-control movements are converted to electronic signals and sent to flight control computers that use them to determine how to move the aircraft.
The technology can automatically perform functions, such as systems that automatically stabilize the aircraft, without input from the pilot.
"The fly-by-wire variant of the UH-60M Black Hawk offers increased handling capability, lower maintenance burden, decreased pilot work load, and full-authority digital engine control," said U.S. Army Maj. Jeffrey Stvan, assistant program manager UH-60 Modernization.
"One aim of the fly-by-wire system is to allow the pilot to keep more of his concentration outside the cockpit and on his surrounding environment."
Maj. Carl Ott, an Army experimental test pilot for the Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center's Aeroflightdyanmics Directorate at Moffett Field, Calif., has done testing for the Utility Project Office and Sikorsky, involving fly-by-wire technology, the Army said.
