Topic: Nissan Completely Detaches Steering

[dkaz]

Then it must have been the 767 was the last one.

Talking of the 777 did you see that news article about the AC 777 doing Search and (not) Rescue near Australia.   Flying a low on fuel ( just come from Vancouver) 777 around at 3700 feet above the Pacific with passengers on board to look for a disabled yacht.  Not a thing I'd want a pilot to do if I were on the plane...unless his name was either Piché or Sullenberger.

The plane wasn't low on fuel, the pilot determined they had enough fuel and they were circling around anyway because of weather related delays at the airport.

[Cord]

First accident will result in massive outrage, congressional hearing, lawsuit, etc.

"OMG THE CAR SWERVED INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC BY ITSELF"

SAAB played around with this in 1988.

http://www.saabsunited.com/2009/11/the-saab-9000-drive-by-wire-joystick-project.html

I'm kind of surprised it hasn't happened sooner. If it's good enough for the 777, it'll be fine in an Altima.

Of course, 777s are (hopefully) operated by someone that won't confuse the gas and brake pedal.

[Mike]

Then it must have been the 767 was the last one.

Talking of the 777 did you see that news article about the AC 777 doing Search and (not) Rescue near Australia.   Flying a low on fuel ( just come from Vancouver) 777 around at 3700 feet above the Pacific with passengers on board to look for a disabled yacht.  Not a thing I'd want a pilot to do if I were on the plane...unless his name was either Piché or Sullenberger.

The plane wasn't low on fuel, the pilot determined they had enough fuel and they were circling around anyway because of weather related delays at the airport.

Yeah, the plane had plenty of fuel left, was already delayed 60 minutes due to weather and was only further delayed 30 minutes searching for the lost yacht.  Most passengers didn't seem to mind.

Now, my flight last week to San Francisco that made an emergency landing in Chicago because the Kitchen began to melt down...that was not fun.

[Snowman]

There are all kinds of industrial servos, controllers and stepper motors that do hundreds of thousands of operations error free in severe environments. You could use some of them right off the shelf and attach them to current steering racks without much fuss or reliability issues.

Joysticks on heavy equipment have been switching from hydraulic to electronic for years.

Exactly! And industrial equipment has far more complicated movements and high risk if things go wrong.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Of course, 777s are (hopefully) operated by someone that won't confuse the gas and brake pedal.

Ever fly Continental or US Air? 

You are right, of course.

[sjrw11]

I designed a steer by wire system back in 1984. It was for a skid steer loader. The diagnostic software could pinpoint most failures and correct the situation. The only thing that was beyond control was a failure of the final power transistors on the drive to the positioning motors. We could diagnose it in 7 thousandth of a second, but due to capacitance, could not guarantee that the loader would not go into a hard turn. Now, the idea of a backup clutch on the manual link is a great idea, as long as it is exercised on each startup to check for proper operation. I love computer control systems because nothing can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong........oops!

[tpl]

Then it must have been the 767 was the last one.

Talking of the 777 did you see that news article about the AC 777 doing Search and (not) Rescue near Australia.   Flying a low on fuel ( just come from Vancouver) 777 around at 3700 feet above the Pacific with passengers on board to look for a disabled yacht.  Not a thing I'd want a pilot to do if I were on the plane...unless his name was either Piché or Sullenberger.

The plane wasn't low on fuel, the pilot determined they had enough fuel and they were circling around anyway because of weather related delays at the airport.

I realize that they were not about to run out of fuel.   Circling around 240 miles form the airport?  That seems strange to me but whatever.   Why would not the Aussie Air Force/Coastguard been able to have sent an aircraft.   

[blur911]

There are all kinds of industrial servos, controllers and stepper motors that do hundreds of thousands of operations error free in severe environments. You could use some of them right off the shelf and attach them to current steering racks without much fuss or reliability issues.

Joysticks on heavy equipment have been switching from hydraulic to electronic for years.

Exactly! And industrial equipment has far more complicated movements and high risk if things go wrong.

I work on industrial servo drives and controllers every day.  While they can repetitively do the same function for thousands and thousands of cycles, every now and then  though something crashes into something else that it's not supposed to come near to.   They have gotten much better over the years, but it happens often enough I'd be wary of any servo steer-by-wire design.