In future, Liebherr-Aerospace's active sidestick will replace the interfaces that control cyclical and collective blade inclination as well as the helicopter control surfaces. The new control stick will make the mechanical connections and interfaces of conventional flight control systems less complex or even entirely obsolete. This will lead to considerable weight advantages, even for electrical connections between two or more sticks.

The active sidestick is a modern man-machine interface that provides pilots with additional haptic information, otherwise known as force feedback. This feature gives pilots a better feeling for the aircraft's behaviour, particularly in critical flight situations.

Liebherr-Aerospace has launched a pre-development program to provide its customers with functional demonstration hardware. This enables customers to investigate the possibility of using the active sidestick in future helicopter programs and to perform a hands-on operating trial.

Liebherr active sidestick's first in-flight test will be conducted on the German Aerospace Center's (DLR) ACTFHS test helicopter at the end of 2007.

In developing the sidestick, Liebherr-Aerospace has drawn on its extensive experience with flight critical systems in the area of fly-by-wire flight controls for helicopters and regional jets, such as the Russian Superjet 100.