ACT One‐Eleven

Since the motivation for research in the civil transport field is mainly to improve the aircraft's economics, and since active control technology (ACT) offers more in terms of direct operating costs than do many other areas, the functions of relaxed stability, manoeuvre load alleviation and gust load alleviation are receiving considerable attention. Companies are actively pursuing programmes which promise major gains in efficiency, one of these involving a British Aerospace One‐Eleven which will be equipped with ACT packages. Intially, the two systems of load alleviation and an active elevator will be kept separate for research purposes with the objective of determining how much ACT technology can be designed into future commercial aircraft and what benefits can be derived from applying it to existing types.