Originally Posted by
silverstrata
Probably because he pushed zero or negative g. In the gliding world, they do a lot of training on the difference between zero g and a stall, but that is not always so in power flying. Zero g can be disorientating, if you have not felt it (and it cannot be simulated in a sim), and ab-initios can often react to zero g by pushing harder.
I liken this to AA587, where excessive rudder inputs were used, resulting in the vertical stabiliser tearing off. In a swept wing aircraft, an agg.ressive rudder input will result in a sharp roll, which could be mistaken for a stall and wing-drop. And the cure for a wing drp stall, is an agg,ressive opposite rudder input, which simply drops the other wing. And so you get a rudder-reversal, because of another misperception of a stall.
And AF447 is not dissimilar to these two incidents. And all caused by first officers, who seem to lack basic training in light aircraft.
It seems clear to me that ALL first officers should complete a two week gliding course, perhaps after their first year of commercial flying, where they can learn basic stick and rudder skills, and to correctly identify a stall and instinctively react to it. In the 21st century, we should not have first officers who...
Think that zero g at high speed is a stall.
Think that a wing drop at high speed is a stall.
Think that pulling 20 degrees of pitch at 35,000 ft is NOT a stall.
Silver
Another thing we should not have:
Captains that think only FOs can make mistakes.