Aircraft Systems Classifications

3Vehicle Systems

This chapter deals with those systems of the aircraft that provide the most basic services that turn the airframe into a working vehicle. They are the source of power and energy, a function which itself requires energy sources to be loaded as consumables prior to each flight. The Vehicle Systems are known by various titles depending on the practice of the company designing and operating the aircraft and these names have changed over time. Some naming examples are the

• Power and mechanical systems
• Airframe systems
• Air vehicle systems
• Utility systems
• General systems
• Vehicle systems

In this book, the systems will be referred to as Vehicle Systems and their position in the overall aircraft system structure is illustrated in Figure 3.1.

Many of these systems are common to both civil and military aircraft; they are a mixture of systems with very different characteristics. Some are high‐speed, closed‐loop, high integrity control systems such as flight controls, others are real‐time data gathering and processing with some process control functions such as the fuel system, and yet others are simple logical processing such as undercarriage sequencing. What they have in common is that they all affect flight safety in some way – in other words, a failure to operate correctly may seriously hazard the aircraft, crew, or passengers.

The mechanism by which many of these systems is controlled depends on the technology used in the aircraft. In many legacy types, each system ...