Upset and managing the plane
This is not a comment on the Air France crew, but a remark on the way training in airlines (the one I know anyway) is becoming just a quick dip in the books.I have been retired for five years now, but I believe that not only has there been no strengthening or widening the scope of rating qualification on the big liners, but to the contrary : many necessary enlightments that were given at the time by ground instructors have disappeared…with them. Young pilots, with well-made brains, are trained quickly to an acceptable standard, that means dealing competently with the aircraft faults in the simulator, clearing them, reading the status…Then they fly the A320 with very low flight hours at the beginning, and after a short experience on that remarkable plane (no joke intended, I liked it) they naturally have a tendency to believe that they are airline pilots. The simulator sessions are programmed to deal with what is in the regulations (engine failure, engine fire etc…) and not much else as there is no spare time. Economic pressure all around prevents the Chief Pilots from dealing with the « nice to know ». And when you are on the A330 for example, you might land the plane three times in the month as a copilot, and eventually land it in the simulator to get the necessary « recent experience ». Some fly sailplanes or do aerobatics during their spare time, but they are not the majority, far from it.
I just read a paper by an Airbus Test Pilot (Airplane Upset Recovery) which sums up what he sees as most important, after participating in the very exhaustive and remarkable « Airplane Upset Recovery » (see FAA Airline Operator Training) in which Boeing, Airbus, Flight Safety worked together. What does Captain Wainwright, Chief Test Pilot Airbus, tell us ? The study (which I feel is a need to know for every airline pilot) « is aimed at preventing loss of control on conventional aircraft. It is not aimed at Fly by Wire aircraft. There is no need for this type of continuation training on protected aircraft, although a general knowledge of the principles involved is useful »
I have the utmost respect for Captain Wainwright, and he is of course, himself, fully ready to deal with any upset…but he has apparently no idea of the way this knowledge slowly disappears in some airlines (large ones). This attitude might even be dangerous for Airbus as we can see that there is an evident need to train for such upsets…Well, I may be wrong, but his statement frightens me a little…