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Old 11th Mar 2019, 15:19
  #35 (permalink)  
calypso
 
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Memory items are put in place when there is a requirement to perform a procedure in a prompt manner to return the aircraft to a safe state without sufficient time to refer to a paper procedure. Modern airliners have on average 8 or 9 such procedures which include such things as emergency descents, unreliable airspeed, engine failures, etc. The failure of a crew to perform such a procedure when required unsurprisingly might have fatal consequences but does not render that aircraft type un-airworthy. Unreliable airspeed in particular requires the sort of hand to eye coordination and instrument scan that seldom gets practiced by some pilots and that is actively discouraged by some airlines.

While I am not saying that is the cause for this accident unreliable airspeed is not the sort of failure one would like if inexperienced or rusty on your hand flying. Of course if the failure did not happen in the first place there would be no accident but we, as pilots, should be able to survive an unreliable airspeed incident even if coupled with an undesirable runaway stabiliser. Grounding the fleet does not address the core issue which goes beyond one aircraft type or one manufacturer.
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