10 Avro CF-105 Arrow Mk. 1
During testing, the stability augmentation system required a lot of fine-tuning. Although the Arrow was not the first aircraft to use such a system, it was one of the first to use a three axes system that other aircraft did not and was consequently problematic. But, this was not the only advanced system developed for the Arrow. Avro’s engineers had created the first non-experimental fly-by-wire control system in an aircraft and a nvaigational computer that used real-time telemetry. The Arrow’s thin wings also nbecessitated the first 4,000 lb/in2 (28 MPa) hydraulic system to supply enough force to the control surfaces using small actuators and piping. The fly-by-wire system used the pilot’s inputs to activate a series of pressure-sensitive transducers in the control stick that sent the signal to an electronic control servo that operated the valves in the hydraulic system to move the various flight controls. This resulted in a lack of control feel so to recreate the mechanical sense, the same electronic control box partly responded to the hydraulic back-pressure fluctuations and triggered actuators in the stick, making it move slightly. Test pilots came to call this “artifical feel” and was an aviation first.
In this image, RL-203 shoots through the skies in southern Ontario. All of the flight tests were conducted at Malton airport. However, on 2 February 1959, a TCA Viscount passenger airplane crash-landed in Toronto, nessistating the test flight be diverted and landing at CFB Trenton. Note the wing fences extending from the dog-tooth to control airflow over the wing. The fences for swept-wing aircraft keep airflow from bleeding to the wingtips and creating a nose-down pitching moment, thus preventing the entire wing from stalling. Soviet aircraft designers employed this technique on several of their aircraft; Western examples are limited.
10 Avro CF-105 Arrow Mk. 1
During testing, the stability augmentation system required a lot of fine-tuning. Although the Arrow was not the first aircraft to use such a system, it was one of the first to use a three axes system that other aircraft did not and was consequently problematic. But, this was not the only advanced system developed for the Arrow. Avro’s engineers had created the first non-experimental fly-by-wire control system in an aircraft and a nvaigational computer that used real-time telemetry. The Arrow’s thin wings also nbecessitated the first 4,000 lb/in2 (28 MPa) hydraulic system to supply enough force to the control surfaces using small actuators and piping. The fly-by-wire system used the pilot’s inputs to activate a series of pressure-sensitive transducers in the control stick that sent the signal to an electronic control servo that operated the valves in the hydraulic system to move the various flight controls. This resulted in a lack of control feel so to recreate the mechanical sense, the same electronic control box partly responded to the hydraulic back-pressure fluctuations and triggered actuators in the stick, making it move slightly. Test pilots came to call this “artifical feel” and was an aviation first.
In this image, RL-203 shoots through the skies in southern Ontario. All of the flight tests were conducted at Malton airport. However, on 2 February 1959, a TCA Viscount passenger airplane crash-landed in Toronto, nessistating the test flight be diverted and landing at CFB Trenton. Note the wing fences extending from the dog-tooth to control airflow over the wing. The fences for swept-wing aircraft keep airflow from bleeding to the wingtips and creating a nose-down pitching moment, thus preventing the entire wing from stalling. Soviet aircraft designers employed this technique on several of their aircraft; Western examples are limited.