Aerospace Sector

[gfp927z]

Archer Aviation seems to be well positioned. I'm curious whether some of these 'partially winged' VTOLs can remain aloft if their onboard 'fly by wire' computer system fails? My dad was an aeronautical engineer, and a key problem with traditional helicopters is that lacking wings, if the engine fails they immediately fall from the sky, instead of safely gliding back down to land. Some older pilots and engineers refused to even get in a helicopter for that reason. Traditional helicopters also have a ton of vibration, so structural failure is a major concern, especially rotor failure.

But these new electric VTOLs solve many of these problems. If a single electric engine fails, it's no big deal since the other 6, 8, 10 are still working. Also, the vibration problem is negligible, and the loss of a single rotor is also not a big deal. So not having a 'wing' is less of an issue since the odds of losing all power is much less.

However, there are rare scenarios where electric motors can all stop working together, and/or the flight control systems suddenly fail to function. I assume these new high tech aircraft are 'fly by wire', which means that they rely totally on their onboard computer systems. If the computer quits, down you come, and with no 'wings' for gliding, it's all over. Back in the 1980s, numerous F-16s (which were one of the first 'fly by wire' jet fighters) crashed in Europe due to their fly by wire systems being disabled after they flew near certain types of ground tower radiation. The F-16 was designed to be very unstable, which allows higher maneuverability, but they can't remain in flight without the fly by wire computer. I suspect most of these VTOLs will have similar vulnerabilities.

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