F/A-18s incorporate a quadruple redundant digital fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system, the first of its kind to be installed in a production aircraft. With FBW, the plane will trim itself for airspeed, (steady state, hands-off, 1-G flight), but cannot recover from an "unusual attitude". It functions via stick and rudder inputs directed into a computer, which then interprets them and issues the appropriate commands to the various control surfaces. There are numerous flight control system (FCS) failure displays, with variations for stabilator actuators, servo valves, rudder channels, AOA and backup air data sensors, leading edge flaps and more.
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The FBW system disallows the pilot the opportunity to overstress the airframe (although in a pinch the pilot may opt to override). The system operates by the principal of majority vote: if one of the four systems disagrees with the other three, this is interpreted as a failure. The dissenting system is then ordered to shut down. FBW redundancy is such that should a second system fail, the remaining two systems, granted they remain in agreement, can still operate the controls.
