AF447

[RWA]

Thanks for the constructive comments, guys.

As to why not make the changes mandatory instead of advisory, my guess is that there was an accountant sitting at the table. No disrespect to accountants - they're there to remind you that if you stop making a profit you'll end up on the dole.

My guess is that Airbus reasoned that all that had happened so far was that a few pilots (maybe ten crews, 6 Air France, 2 Air Caraibes, maybe 2 Qantas) pilots had got a fright - but they'd managed to recover and land safely.

An 'advisory' means that the airlines pay - if they care to. A 'mandatory' means that the manufacturers do.

I LIKE to think that in my own business - which was equally concerned with safety - I'd have been the 'White Knight' yelling for us to 'do the right thing.' I probably would have been in this case - but, as a director, you only have one vote, and I never got to be a CEO.

As to 'why use the rudder?,' the only things I ever flew were 'toy' aeroplanes and gliders. I never flew in bad visibility, leave alone thunderstorms. I'm pretty sure that, if I was in the circumstances those guys were probably facing, I'd have used anything within reach (even including sensitive parts of the guy in the other seat's anatomy) to regain control. I know one other thing, too - if I'd ever been thrown into say a 45-degree bank while losing height, I'd have remembered in particular that the rudder, geometrically speaking, was 'half of the elevator' in that attitude - and vice versa - and therefore I'd have made a balanced input of both..........

Maybe worth mentioning too that one accident I researched thoroughly (because I visited NYC shortly afterwards) was AA587. Believe it or not - because Airbus favour 'variable stop' rudder limiters (that is, the pedal travel is restricted instead of the rudder movement) a mere 1.2-inch pedal movement will produce full permissible rudder movement on an A300 doing only 250 knots.......

'Pilots aren't concert pianists,' you might say........