Originally Posted by
KayPam
Why not turning the heading bug yourself ? Because you know you can follow a heading without the need for the bug ?
I fully agree with you.
But do you have at your airline some instructors who require "pixel perfect" following of the FDs ?
I find that in this debate, this article from an airbus test pilot would be very relevant, especially the quoted part :
https://safetyfirst.airbus.com/app/t...df.php?p=25242
I think the rest of that paragraph needs to be posted:
The terms “flying manually” in this article imply that the guidance functions have become unavailable, possibly with the flight control laws in a degraded mode.
In this configuration, pilots must be able to correctly perform, at any altitude, all the maneuvers required to manually control the aircraft and land it under satisfactory safety conditions. These safety conditions would not be met if a pilot is not at ease when performing, under all flight control conditions which may be encountered following failures, manual flying without the FD, without the ATHR and without speed vector, from the cruise ceiling of the aircraft to instrument landing under CAT1 weather conditions.
The type certifications of all the commercial aircraft in the world are established by the Authorities on the fundamental hypothesis that any qualified pilot is capable of meeting this requirement.
It’s concerning that some here think that the FD is necessary to execute a level turn, and others program the FMS for visual approaches.
I’ve long thought that part of the problem in AF447 was the PF was trying desperately to centre the FD bars.