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flying by wire

Posted by Smokey Stover on November 23, 2005

In Reply to: flying by wire posted by James Briggs on November 22, 2005

: : Recently I've experienced a lot of people saying things like "now your flying by wire" or "now that's what I call flying by wire" it seems to imply being up with current thinking or technology or fashion.....am I correct?
: : What is the origin of these sayings?

: This is modern aircraft language. Modern aircraft control the flying surfaces - elevator, rudder, etc elctronically and not mechanically, as in the past - they 'fly by (electrical) wire'. It seems that this usage has been extended to people.

I can't really imagine why anyone would say "Now you're flying by wire" unless he was referring to the fact that most fly-by-wire systems are partly or wholly computer-controlled. Thus someone "flying by wire" would act in accord with patterned responses as though computer-controlled. But perhaps the speaker had something else in mind. SS

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