PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Blind Reliance on Automation in Australian airlines
Old 25th Sep 2009, 11:18
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Tee Emm
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Australia
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EK has recognised the deterioration in manual skills and now includes one nil jeopardy automatics off sim session a year. (not enough in my opinion still its a start), ie no auto thrust, autopilot or flight directors. Good fun.
In another life as simulator instructor, sometimes you had a student getting quite uptight and tense and made worse by the PNF singing out all the time "support" calls with a continuous calling of 'SPEED - AIRSPEED - SINK RATE - TRACKING" and so on. Yes it was "shouting" too. Enough to drive anyone mad - although in theory he was only sticking to the SOP's. But of course there is a time and place for everything and this almost constituted stupidity

So depending on spare time of 15 minutes or so, I would haul the PNF away for a cup of coffee and close the sim door and tell the pilot to enjoy himself on a few touch and go circuits solo. Not a soul in the cockpit. In the simulator hall you could always hear the roar of reverse thrust on the final landing when time was up. Out of the simulator would step a smiling happy confident pilot. Worked wonders I tell you.
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