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Aviation glossary

Fly-by-wire

Also: FBW, electronic flight controls

The aircraft

Flight control system in which the pilot's inputs travel as electrical signals to computers that move the control surfaces.

What it is

On classic aircraft the control column and pedals were linked to the control surfaces by cables, pulleys and rods, often with hydraulic assistance. Fly-by-wire removes that mechanical connection: sensors turn the pilot's input into a signal, and flight control computers interpret it and command actuators to move each surface by the right amount.

This saves weight and allows flight envelope protections, which stop the aircraft from exceeding certain bank angles or angles of attack, for example. Concorde already had analogue electrical controls, and the Airbus A320 brought digital fly-by-wire with sidesticks to airliners. Boeing adopted it on the 777, keeping a conventional control column, and it now features on types such as the 787, the A350 and the Embraer E2 family.

The systems are redundant: several computers, often of dissimilar design, cross-check one another's results.

On Vuelopedia

Airbus A320 Boeing 777 Embraer E-Jet E2

Related terms

Flight deckForward compartment from which the pilots fly the aircraft and manage its systems, navigation and communications. AutopilotSystem that holds or changes an aircraft's flight path, altitude, heading and vertical speed according to values selected by the crew. Glass cockpitFlight deck in which most dial instruments are replaced by electronic screens that combine flight, navigation and systems information. AileronMovable surface near each wingtip; deflected in opposite directions on the two wings, the ailerons roll the aircraft about its longitudinal axis. ElevatorMovable surface on the trailing edge of the horizontal stabiliser that raises or lowers the nose, controlling the aircraft's pitch attitude.
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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Fly-by-wire. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fly-by-wire

MLA

“Fly-by-wire.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fly-by-wire. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Fly-by-wire.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fly-by-wire.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Fly-by-wire. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fly-by-wire (Accessed: 17 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_fly_by_wire,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Fly-by-wire}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fly-by-wire},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fly-by-wire}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-17},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-17}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fly-by-wire |title=Fly-by-wire |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-17 |language=en}}

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