ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the advances in flight control design which will provide mission-capable rotorcraft for the future. Safety is the primary objective of the flight control system development activities at Boeing. The flight control system has taken on a more centralized vehicle management system role through its integration with other subsystem functions, including navigation, engine, and fire control. Under a US Army contract during the 1980s, Boeing designed and flight tested an Advanced Digital/Optical Control System. Two in-flight occurrences of pilot-assisted oscillation were encountered which involved a destabilizing pilot/control system feedback loop at a structural wing-bending mode frequency. Boeing Helicopter's role in the technology advancement of full-authority digital fly-by-wire systems was spurred by requirements to improve handling qualities and mission effectiveness, and reduce weight and maintenance activities. Fly-by-wire efforts at Boeing began in the late 1960s with the Tactical Aircraft Guidance System research program.
