Dave O'Leary: A Captain can break any regulation or procedure in an emergency situation, if he has a good reason for it.
Andy Pandy: The turbofan aircraft flown by many of us are old and they can only fly in a condition which Airbus pilots call 'Direct Law'.
Loose Rivets: Years ago a Zantop "Logair" mission Electra crashed near Provo, Utah in IMC. The Flight Engineer made a mistake during an electrical fault and the pilots lost both ADIs/horizons.
Under the'grandfather' rule, Zantop's Electras were never required to have standby horizons powered by the batteries etc. Neither were the US Air Force/AFRES/ANG C-130s for decades.
My father twice lost all C-130 (A and E model) electrics and both horizons+ everything else in night IMC. Outstanding professional Flight Engineers saved everyone's lives twice. The second time was about 500' agl in solid IMC above Scott AFB, east of St. Louis. The FE immediately switched on his flashlight (torch) and put it on the Aircraft Commander's horizon as the 'gyro' flag came on. This flying was a frequent part-time job over many years for my Dad and thousands of others.
Complex aircraft are no longer designed with Flight Engineers. The AF KC-135 and B-52 never had them.
Last edited by Ignition Override; 23rd Sep 2006 at 00:14.