Eff Oh,
I _urge_ you to read the posts I've written in this thread, please, all of them. I have no desire to explain all the things over and over again.
Let me ONCE more elaborate:
I am NOT telling you that I could do YOUR job, i.e. operate the aircraft in all conditions, normal and abnormal, emergency or not. No. No. No. Please lose this idea already!!
I'm telling you that I would have little trouble in getting a B767 down in one piece, GIVEN the right circumstances. Please read what I wrote before... this is tiresome.
As you might (should) already know, autolands are very often done on runways that are only CATI or CATII approved. Following is a quote of a corporate pilot:
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As for the CAT II or CAT III runways for autolands, here’s a little secret the FAA don’t want you to know about that.
QUOTE
It is a common practice for air carriers to conduct AFCGS approaches and/or autoland operations when the runway visual range (RVR) is at or below RVR 4,000. It is also common for carriers to conduct these operations during CAT I, or better weather conditions to satisfy maintenance, training, or reliability program requirements. To achieve the necessary autoland rate, some percentage of these autolands are conducted at runways that are approved for CAT I operations.
Serving a CAT I Airport/Runway.
The commissioning, periodic flight inspection, and facility maintenance of an ILS facility serving a CAT I airport/runway does not include an analysis of the ILS performance inside the runway threshold or along the runway. However, a number of CAT I instrument approach facilities have sufficient signal characteristics to support AFCGS autoland operations to CAT I minima. Operations specifications paragraph C61b(2) allows the operator to make this assessment.
END QUOTE
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Well, how do you respond? That it can't be done ? In an emergency? Now give me a BREAK!
Like I said before, I have no urge to discuss your training costs vs. Flight Sim price any further. I'm not addressing the obvious differences between these two "educational methods". It is NOT the subject of the original post, nor that of this.
If you took the time to read what was posted before, you would know that some 757/767 are retrofitted with this automatic arming of all three channels above 1500 RA. Don't make the assumption that what you know is the absolute truth, because I sure as hell am not doing that. Now I'm wiser when it comes to that little detail in AFDS operation. However, I think you should also acknowledge the fact that A) Many 757/767 don't have the automatic arming of L,C,R autopilots and B) even if I was surprised by this feature in-flight, would it prevent the flight from succeeding ?? Quite the contrary...
Regarding the GPWS. Different carriers have different options in the settings of GPWS and callouts in general. These can be modified very easily to suit each one's SOPs and needs. What would the GPWS be calling in the scenario I described. Even if it did, it wouldn't bring us down, now would it ? And further, could you please elaborate as to why it would do that ??? I'm 10 miles out, 3000ft, flaps 30, 160 KIAS, gear down, speedbrake armed, autobrake MAX, flying on AP (LOC, SPD, ALT HLD active, G/S showing white (armed) and waiting for it to come alive), established on LLZ. Why would the GPWS shout at me ? And if it did, what difference would it make.
Please know that I KNOW that the above config is NOT how it should be at that particular stage in normal ops, but I'm just simplifying a bit because that's just what I would do in the real situation; to have everything setup right enough far out, so I could concentrate entirely on monitoring the course of events.
OK, if you think that the V/S would be a bad choice, I would gladly conduct a VNAV descent. I merely offered the V/S there as a simpler way of adjusting the descent, instead of having to interact with the FMC. Remember that this would be a situation in which things should be done in the simplest way, to avoid confusion and disorientation. But you're definitely right about the speed protection. Again just an example. And I was thinking about the fact that if a diversion would be made (instead of just continuing to destination), it would require reprogramming the FMC, and it might be that we would be (and likely were) already above the profile, which would require lots of other stuff to do to get the plane back on the poor man's G/S. V/S mode is as simple as they come, BUT with no speed prot, true enough.
Regarding the FL CH... <sigh> Would you be surprised if I told you that PIC767 has FLCH modelled, AND that I know how to use it...
Take a look at the training manual that I use for the program in question, here's something about the FL CH:
- It engages the plane in an airspeed-dependant climb or descent.
- It engages the autothrottle in a FL CH mode that controls power
automatically to make the aircraft climb or descend as required.
- It automatically selects Speed (SPD) as the vertical mode since pitch is now dependent on the selected airspeed.
- Resets the airspeed window to the current indicated airspeed.
- If a climb is required the TMC is automatically set to a climb mode (CLB,CLB1 or CLB2 depending on TRP settings).
- This mode will fly the airplane to the altitude set in the ALT window. If a climb is required, it gives you climb power and pitch to maintain the selected airspeed. If a descent is required it gives you IDLE thrust and pitch to maintain selected airspeed.
- In a FL CH descent the autothrottle changes to throttle hold mode (THR HLD) which allows the pilot to alter the vertical speed of the descent by adding or removing power. The autothrottle re-engages in the SPD mode during altitude capture.
- FL CH and SPD are annunciated on the EADI.
To answer your question regarding the flaps:
I would put the flaps lever to the previous position where it was working normally and try again. If the flaps/slats still stayed in the same position, i.e. didn't move at all, I would use the alternate system, that moves the flaps/slats electrically into position. After that I would, however, make sure that the primary flaps lever was in the same position that I electrically lowered the flaps to.
Regarding the final app speed (the part you quoted)
You asked me what would I do if I had no weight information.
Answer: I would use an estimation slightly higher than what I would ASSUME be correct. For example, for a 20klbs fuel left + 250klbs ZFW in a 767 I would use roughly 135-140 (+additives) on final APP (flaps30). And IF that speed turned out too slow, I would SEE it since the aircraft would pitch to unusually high nose-up attitude (>5 deg. ANU) early on in the approach. I would simply increase the speed from MCP if that was to happen. What is wrong with this explanation ? I know that it would not lead to an instantaneous crash if it were 5 kt on the low side, and I would see it. I would watch it like a hawk if I didn't know the RIGHT speed for the weight.
Regarding the gear problem:
I would cycle the lever a couple of times, and if I didn't get 3 green I would eventually use the alternate gear switch, which has a 250 KIAS speed limit for extension. Of course if the lamp(s) were out, I would remove the cover and... heheh just kidding. I wouldn't do that. One delta crew in an L-1011 once crashed while doing that ('73 I believe, in Florida).
Btw. Has the flight with the poisoned pilots turned out to be a disaster otherwise as well..? darn. And I was hoping for the bloody plane to work at least
.
Anything else? And feel free to educate me. This is fun!! But please read carefully what I say in my posts, because it's no fun repeating the stuff over and over.
cheers,
Tero
Oh btw. I'm Finnish, and if my English seems too crappy for you to understand, I will be more than happy to elaborate further
).