Originally Posted by
WillowRun 6-3
[SLF ... although having some knowledge of aviation law (and....lots of hours, of reading PPRuNe)]
The video from Blancolirio (Euclideanplane #1118) has the gent noting, with not very subtle emphasis, how the R/T included one of the crew saying they were "comfortable" with, or on, the approach profile on which they were proceeding.
Fairly sure that's a non-standard term, "comfortable".
If that's correct, is it a term that nonetheless has cropped up in R/T in previous accidents?
(I'm not speculating at all as to what could have led to usage of that term; it is greatly to be hoped the AAIB will report with compelling thoroughness and conformity to contemporary Annex 13 standards and, expected practices rather than those merely "recommended".)
Since the AF447 threads, it's always a pleasure to read your contributions, WillowRun.
Re, "
comfortable", etc., good question. It's like the phrase I've heard on occasion, "
yeah, we'll do all that...", which is peculiar to the U.S. Generally it's not a problem, just like, "we're comfortable" generally isn't. Such responses may creep in in less formal RT environments but they're not recognized as standard. Most of the time it works but it always leaves both sides of the communication potentially mis-understanding one another.
The one accident I can recall as having communications confusion as a primary cause is the Tenerife accident, and maybe the TCAS - mid-air in Germany, (the accident reports can be consulted).
I look forward to the timeline of communications and hope it is sync'd with a CVR transcription.
I do recall that the sudden loss of AF447 and long thread interpreting the cryptic ACARS messages to determine what happened that could result in them being transmitted in the sequence in which they had been sent, (and even that was in question). And then the data indicated a 15deg pitch up at cruise altitude with sidestick input that was held until the stall and almost all the way down.
I know that that's what happened but I still find it difficult to accept that an airline crew could perform this way. But that's what this one is going to be, I think.