Originally Posted by
SASless
A couple of points to be considered when reading that statement.
If you have engaged "upper modes" of the Autopilot system....is that "stabilized flight" no matter the ground speed of the aircraft?
I specify ground speed because Wind Speed would be sensed as IAS.
Also to remind some of you young folks.....there was a time that "zero/zero" takeoffs were done in helicopters that had not stabilization systems or autopilots at all.
They were done as a matter of course, day and night, for years.
They were all "towering" type takeoffs that were far more vertical than they were transitions into forward flight then a climb away from the surface.
So all of this arguing back and forth about profiles, airspeeds, and the like are indicative of letting Rules getting in the way of aviating.
We have seen adherence to Take Off profiles at night in a cow pasture kill people.
We might assume leaving a beach on an Island at night might also have come to grief for the same reason.
What is patently plain to this old Git is far too many of you "think" you know your numbers and profiles....but don't.
I will give you this....the CAA and other Authorities have not done you any benefit by conjuring up all of these complicated Profiles and Limitations.
Just as we see Sim Training focus upon the wrong things....again usually caused by those same thoughtless rules and regulations.....we see complexity overtake commonsense rule making.
Are ya'll being taught right or just find yourself being the bulge in the Python's stomach?
SASless,
I think there are 2 important points here:
1. Of course the automation can take you away nicely if you ask it to. And us old farts were trained to do imc zero zero departures. But- cash rules, and aircraft are not certified (or insured I guess) for flight IMC below Vmini, because the manufacturer needs to make sure all the redundancy is built- in and nobody is going to sue because of an accident arising from stability issues with a single AP failure at low airspeed.
2. A lot of people seem to have a hangup about Cat A profiles, whilst forgetting where and when they are appropriate. Of course we teach them during initial training, but its down to the pilot to select the appropriate departure when he is out on his own, without forgetting the basics: eg a limitation in the RFM is a limitation, and you cant ignore it; A takeoff over the sea at night is going to be IMC, cos you are going to have no discernable horizon, and very limited surface contact.
So, if you are commercial air transport, you have to follow the rules. If you have more freedom as a private/ corporate etc operator, then you use your own discretion. Unfortunately, this also makes you statistically much more likely to join the list of tragedies! And those are the types of operators in all your examples.