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Old 7th Jun 2010, 13:29
  #391 (permalink)  
Centaurus
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Australia
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If this suggestion (raising gear) is coming from professional pilots I am worried.
I see the situation as this: Scenario: Captain (culture fixated maybe) where real men never go around as it is a loss of face in front of a subordinate member of another caste or simply determined to make a go at getting in.

Have witnessed this many times during simulator training of certain countries. F/O has already been alarmed enough to call for a GA or at the least has indicated he is most unhappy at the prospects of an over-run after a non-stable approach well below the mandatory go around of 500 ft VMC or 1000 ft IMC.

Some captains - again depending on their character type - will strongly resent "advice" from the subordinate and be determined to force the landing all the while risking a long float. In most cases where culture dominates the flight deck the F/O will sit glumly watching as events unfold while making weak attempts at dissuading the captain from pressing on regardless of the potential consequences. And to be blunt, that could mean if the aircraft goes off the end at high speed, it is probable (judging by recent gruesome pictures on Pprune) that people will die a horrible death in their seats -all because the captain stuffed up badly and the F/O should have taken drastic action to stop him.

How does the F/O fix the problem, exactly? his support calls went unheeded. It is usually obvious by 200 ft agl that the aircraft is going to finish in the over-run if high and fast on a short wet runway - or in the under-run if undershooting. So what happens if the F/O says calmly "Captain - I have control and we are going around Sir".

Is the captain then expected to happily say "Handing over, First officer" and himself becomes the subordinate until the F/O hands over control back to the captain with an apologetic and sickly smile knowing he will soon be out of a job. Well it ain't going to happen that way - ever.

The captain would likely shout at the F/O to get his dirty mitts of the controls and continue to press on regardless. In other words there is a chance of blows on the flight deck.

What else is left to the hapless F/O under these circumstances? Pprune readers have come up with several choices -each to his own. Shoving the throttles forward on the captain will catch the captain by surprise and he better be real quick to stop the nose from pitching up fast under the influence of full power and full flap. He may even fail to react quickly enough to prevent the nose pitching up and there is a great risk of a high power high nose attitude stall and fall-off. If the captain is that incompetent as to press on regardless on short final despite several warnings from the F/O, the chances are he will also be incompetent to handle an unexpected power increase and subsequent rapid pitch up not of his own making. That then is the great risk of the F/O shoving open the thrust levers against the stops and hoping his captain can recover from the shock of his subordinate having the hide to question his actions.

On the other hand, the captain will have probably completed numerous normal go arounds from an ILS DA on instruments - both in the real aircraft and certainly in the simulator. Presumably he has been certified competent at that manoeuvre.

If, as a last resort, the F/O elects to call "Go Around" and then pulls up the landing gear lever while leaving the captain to conduct the go-around, then I believe it may be the safest(?) method of forcing a recalcitrant captain to abandon the approach. It would be highly unlikely the captain would then deliberately press on and land gear up. If however, he does press on after the landing gear has been selected up, then the F/O is justified in taking his last chance card and start fighting the captain for control of the aircraft.

It is wrong to ignore the realities that fatal over-runs have occured and no doubt will continue in the future. It is also head in the sand and unfair to the first officer, who is given precious little written guidance in company FCOM on how convince the captain that his approach is basically dangerous. Fighting for control when near the ground is a recipe for disaster and that is the reason why the F/O should select gear up to force a go-around rather than risk a loss of control. It then becomes a matter of personal opinion between pilots which of the two choices is the lesser evil.
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