Re: “I take it to mean the copilot froze.”
The word surprise can be interpreted in several ways; extreme fear <or> deviation from normal expectation based on experience. Also, different after translation;
Original - Il ajoute avoir été surpris, au vu des conditions météorologiques du jour, par l’alarme predictive windshear, can be translated as “He adds that he was surprised, given the weather conditions of the day, by the predictive windshear alarm”.
The differing tense (was surprised) from the official English report (had been surprised) enables different interpretations of how the situation is considered in hindsight - our expectations, our surprise.
The report indicated that the PF understood the Capts GA instruction, and that the initial normal GA actions were correctly executed, which suggests that any ‘impairment’ occurred after these actions.
The first deviation from normalcy appears to be related to the expectation that the AP was engaged - but it wasn't; soft TOGA thrust triggers mode change, the route is in FMS/ND, Alt set (all re-briefed by technology at the time of action) - except the aircraft did not respond as expected.
This conflict may have held the PF’s focus of attention, ‘highjacking’ cognitive resource - why isn't the aircraft flying as expected - as it would in the simulator, as the SOP, etc, …
Add the need to fly the route, alt acquire, … mind overload with situational reassessment, seeking understanding, insufficient capacity for control, … to remember events - mind elsewhere.
Re: “Predictive Windshear is not a memory item anymore,”
Interesting, which together with the FCOM note - reassess PWS, and info about spurious triggers, indicates the reduced value of the system.
Any system which claims to enhance awareness should be of higher integrity that the basic awareness - pre PWS the crew could interpret the weather radar as a situation which might / might not involve windshear, but avoiding uncertainty, as windshear training requires, with a GA.
In modern times, a new ‘ambiguous‘ radar sensor - is the display valid PWS or is the display false, and I can ignore it - true or false. What if the warning is true, a hazard, don't ignore, confusion, etc, …
Beware technology which ‘enhances awareness’, but actually ‘highjacks’ the mind, increasing mental workload.
Last edited by safetypee; 20th Jul 2021 at 09:42.