Indonesian aircraft missing off Jakarta

[rideforever]

I can only see more and more such incidents occurring.
The telemetry including stick-shaking that the pilots get is mostly interpreted meaning that you do not feel the plane itself in your hands, but a computer has decided what to tell you, and so you .... really are up against it.
In order to correctly comprehend the situation, you have to engage the subconscious animal (who understands physical reality), and integrate it with your conscious mind's training of normal functioning of the instruments, and add to that .... your behind the scenes understanding of how the computer works in x number of situations that you have been warned about. And you have to integrate these three systems of consciousness, into a correct response in a number of seconds whilst the aircraft is falling into the sea.
The chances that you can do that are very slim.
Sullenberger, when he saved his place, reverted to the subconscious animal (who feels physical reality) and had had deep training in the military, he then cut off any routes that had a low chance of success, and was left with a single option, that his well trained animal executed.
Within himself, he reverted to one reliable well trained system.
And it would be best for pilots if they could in such a situation, cut the s***, and revert to basic operation in seconds.
I believe that trying to "solve" the problem is the problem, far too complex.
Probably what the airlines will eventually do is teach pilots a handful of typical loc situations with workarounds.
But I don't think pilots will anymore be able to understand what is happening in a new loc situation.
They will simply try to relate the new loc situation to one of the dozen they have learnt about, if they get a match then they have a workaround, if not .... there is no answer.
Of course if you were raised on a farm, you might have the idea to pull the circuit breakers and fly it like a cropduster, but you will never been trained to do that because it goes against the future cost savings of the airlines, and frankly you would have to be a very unusual kind of person to do that.
In any case, a lifeboat (emergency procedure) is only a lifeboat if it is well maintained and used regularly, otherwise you may as well not have one.
In fact on the previous 4 runs the flight had problems, but they kept going and thought they would solve it in the air. And the maintenance crew thought changing the sensor would fix things - but did they take the plane up to see if it did. It's not good.
There is a lot of financial pressure and insincerity to be frank.

If I was a pilot, in such a situation, I would
(a) try to relate it to a known issue or workaround, if not
(b) 45 seconds limit to comprehend the new situation, if not
(c) pull the circuit breakers and fly it manually ... on this aircraft some system are not fully manual so know that as well, and this must be trained so you have certainty about it.

... but the airline would be unlikely to train you for (c) because it smells of panic.