Originally Posted by
Uplinker
If the aircraft suddenly banked when established on an ILS, my instinctive reaction would be to take out the autopilot and manually fly wings level, (or pull heading at least), "whoa there !", and track the localiser manually while we worked out what the problem was. If we could recover the approach, fine, but if we couldn't then we have already briefed the go-around..
As pilots, we like to think that we will react calmly to anything that comes our way and correctly follow the procedures. However, in the real world that does not always happen when something unexpected occurs, as I’m sure any simulator instructor/checker would attest. During my time as a trainer/checker, I saw a number of stuff-ups occur in the simulator in response to fairly simple failures at a critical time during an approach. The ‘startle’ effect is real and it can affect a crew’s performance immediately after an unexpected event, with potentially serious consequences.
The Effects of Startle on Pilots During Critical Events: A Case Study Analysis