Cap'n Crunch
Forgive me, a couple of dumb questions for my own edification. Firstly, if we don't know what caused AF to go down until the report comes out, what steps should crew take to avoid the same fate? Secondly, is it really the case that there are so many commercial pilots so unused to high-FL hand flying that doing so in less than optimal conditions might result in an upset?
Regards
Wossname,
Clearly airbus has some idea of what might of happened. Our big clue, is that they have already released an accident alert to all operators with the focus on "Flight with unreliable airspeed". As my astute colleague has pointed out, this emergency is one of the worst. When it happened to me, I just set 90% power, held about x degrees pitch and waited to come into the clear. The ice was loud. The airplane felt loaded. After we regained everything minutes later, even MCT (abv climb power) was barely holding altitude. We picked up a buttload of ice. It temporarily took out all the pitots and all the static ports. The autopilot let go right in the buildups.
Luckily, I had an earlier job on junk jets with unreliable autopilots for months. I did a lot of hand flying for hours at altitude in severe weather. And at the time we iced up on the bus, I had been hand flying up and down from FL180 despite the SOP's to always stay coupled.
Yeah, it's true. Most airline pilots have never hand flown at altitude all night. But they should do it. Even if it scares everybody in the back.
The simulator is just not the same thing imho.
CC