Fly-by-wire principles

Since the diseontinuation of the A300 and A310 in 2007, all Airbuses have fly-by-wire systems, all with electronically controlled surfaces, hydraulically or 

The side-stieks are used to operate the aircrafL The pilot inputs are interpreted by the computers that eause the movement of the surfaces (through actuators) in order to get the desired flight trajectory modifications. When the autopilot is engaged, the flight-control computers take their orders from the autopilot computers. Under this aspect, the flight controls consist of five to seven computers and the autopilot of two. 

Very briefly, a flight-control system supports four main functions  

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