arcniz
With respect you appear to know little about the practical operation of the Airbus, that or you don’t really understand it! The aeroplane and system gave them all the information they needed to identify they had a major fuel leak. You have exactly the same level of accuracy and redundancy as any other type and then some regarding the fuel indication system. This incident in a 767 or 777 would have left the crew with the same level of information and verification of data validity.
At the end of the day they had no reason to doubt the data and every reason to treat it as correct. In six years on the aeroplane I have never had a reason to doubt the fuel system it does not lie, it is clear and easy to understand.
The Airbus is highly automated but it still requires a pilot, which means there are still some functions which require the use of the human brain. The 777 won’t tell you any more than the A330 when a leak occurs nor will the 767!
This crew opened the fuel cross feed with a major fuel leak in progress. They either failed to diagnose the fault or failed to follow procedures or both. What is certain is the data regarding their fuel state was clear and easy to understand. As I said in an earlier post I have run this procedure many times with crews in the simulator it should have been a strait forward problem to solve even with other distractions.
The crew got it wrong and no amount of Airbus bashing will change that fact. They had the same level of information that crews on other types have! Had this crew been in the simulator and handled this drill in the same way they would be facing retraining and a retest!
Again this is not a witch hunt but let’s not confuse the facts with half truths and myth! This incident resulted in the loss of both engines due in no small part to the crews handling of the systems, there are important lessons to be learnt, the system worked as advertised.
