Originally Posted by
Centaurus
A few of us still around would have read Handling the Big Jets by Captain D.B. Davies. For those that haven't, allow me to cut and paste blurbs from the fly leaf. Read what you will into these comments.
From IFALPA New Bulletin: " this book can be truly described as the best of its kind in the world and not only for the fact that there is no other book on modern aircraft handling characteristics .....we can recall no book which bears so directly on the pilot's problem as does 'Handling the Big Jets." Written by a test pilot for airline pilots, the book is likely to become a standard text book.....I would strongly recommend the book to all airline pilots who fly jets, or who will be flying jets in the future.
From Flight International.'..."this is no dry text book..It is a tremendous, but notably readable, vade-mecum of jet tranport flying qualities and design characteristics intended primarily for pilots who have yet to make the transition to jets, but which is packed with information of value to he most experienced of jet captains.'
This leads me to the author's advice to airline pilots which, in my opinion is the crux of the wide ranging differences of opinion between Pprune readers on the subject of automation versus the perceived need to maintain manual handling skills. Bear with me when I again cut and paste.
"Do not become lazy in your professional lives. The autopilot is a great comfort, so are the flight director and approach coupler. But do not get into the position where you need these devices to complete the flight. Keep in practice at raw ILS particularly in crosswinds. Keep in practice in hand-flying the aeroplane at altitude and in making purely visual approaches.
Airline flying really is money for old rope most of the time; but when things get hairy then you earn your pay. As we get older we all become slightly more lazy, slightly more tired - and this is a bit of a trap. The demand of jet transport flying can be best met by enthusiasm. Personal enthusiasm for the job is beyond value because it is a built-in productive force, and those who have it do not have to be pushed into practice and the search for knowledge. Enthusiasm thus generates its own protection. This is the frame of mind which needs to be developed for the best execution of the airline pilots's task"
The author mentions a known fact and that is "As we get older we all become slightly more lazy, slightly more tired." This can show up when the opportunity arises for a spot of hand flying and an enthusiastic first officer asks his captain "Do you mind if I hand fly this ILS raw data all the way down?" The captain demurs - if only because he either doesn't trust his first officer to fly a smooth approach or he perceives trouble if a FOQA pings the fact the FD is off on the copilot's side. An invite to tea and bikkies looms. So the captain knocks back the first officer's request with "its best to leave the autopilot in until DH."
Davies states "The demand of jet transport flying can be best met with enthusiasm." The problem nowadays, is that rules and tolerances are far tighter than when Davies wrote his book. With Big Brother FOQA monitoring every flick of a switch, it becomes all too onerous for the captain to risk straying from the magenta line of SOP. The first officer then becomes a captive audience to the captain's caution. In time, the same first officer becomes a captain and the problem is perpetuated
Regrettably, all this leads to the conclusion that in todays sophisicated electronic aviation environment it maybe safer in terms of pilot job security to leave hand flying a crosswind raw data ILS and its ilk to simulator practice only. . And that becomes another story.
Loads of valuable inputs and personally love the book.
The problem is that aviation nowadays (or at least the past 10/15 years) is "cheap". That means having low hours low experienced pilots in both seats in the cockpit who will not create much troubles to the airlines in terms of demands and complaints. On the other hand airlines also need experienced crews to balance the fleet, and then everything gets quite mixed up. The answer becomes super-rigid sops with very little margins for anything that can potentially "distract" the crew form a textbook sop flight from A to B.