Originally Posted by
L39 Guy
Another factor is that given the dependence on automation these pilots may have never trimmed this aircraft or any others in their airline career.
Consider that if the airline policy was to use the autopilot to the max (sorry about the pun), their entire career of flying a Boeing product would be to takeoff, climb to 400 ft then engage the autopilot. For this short bit of flying there is no requirement to trim if the stabilizer trim was set properly. During any changes in speed or configuration the autopilot would automatically trim the aircraft. The aircraft would stay on autopilot until short final (1000 AGL or less), the autopilot would be disconnected and, assuming that no configuration or speed changes occur, the aircraft would not have to be manually trimmed.
In speaking with friends flying outside of “the western world” this is exactly what happens. In fact, if the flight data analysis (which, in some cases is analyzed after every flight at some carriers) shows manual flying, the Captain gets queried about why. If it happens too often they get docked pay.
To those of us that insist on doing some hand flying of our jets, this might seem preposterous however that is what is going on in many parts of the world.
I would be interested in hearing if others are under this practice or have colleagues that are.
As airline pilots our recurrent training often emphasizes or incorporates items that were the causes of recent airline accidents or incidents:
I can just see it now.... My next session is going have some spot training involving hand flying while operating the electric trim switches up and down .