DozyWannabe
I accept your good point re: conversion across a range of aircraft, but I recall that my airline (when it spoke with AB before retiring its BAC1-11s) clearly was left with the impression that less training costs would be incurred separate to the conversion costs issue.
It shouldn't have, but more automation equals less crew training costs did enter the mix and it can't be blamed purely on the press. AB's (then) salesmen had to compete with the Boeing and MD duopoly.
The issue is whether the PF and PNF were properly trained to deal with the problem they encountered, UAS leading to A/P disconnect under the flight conditions encountered by AF447, because nobody would argue that it was the time for their manual flight training (in alternate law)? I have my doubts, on what I have so far seen......
If not, it is not conveniently "pilot error" but rather a deeper / wider systemic problem for the industry.
If the A/P cuts out, which admittedly is very rare, manual flight must still be second nature (or at least not an absolute novelty) to have a better than even chance of a happy outcome.
Last edited by Welsh Wingman; 12th Aug 2011 at 20:48.
Reason: Typos