Description and Flight Test Results of the NASA F-8 Digital Fly-by-Wire Control System

A NASA program to develop digital fly-by-wire (DFBW) technology for aircraft applications is discussed. Phase I of the program demonstrated the feasibility of using a digital fly-by-wire system for aircraft control through developing and flight testing a single channel system, which used Apollo hardware, in an F-8C airplane. The objective of Phase II of the program is to establish a technology base for designing practical DFBW systems. It will involve developing and flight testing a triplex digital fly-by-wire system using state-of-the-art airborne computers, system hardware, software, and redundancy concepts. The papers included in this report describe the Phase I system and its development and present results from the flight program. Man-rated flight software and the effects of lightning on digital flight control systems are also discussed.