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Old 23rd Dec 2010, 09:50
  #56 (permalink)  
BEagle
 
Join Date: May 1999
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
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The other problem with GPWS is that of unintended consequences. In the early days of A310 MRTT crew training, the GPWS suddenly issued an alert whilst we were conducting AAR on Saxon anchor.... The reason was that one of the receivers had crossed a bit too close underneath the back of the jet and the GPWS had found itself a 'glass mountain'. But what concerned me was the way both pilots looked at each other in confusion, without knowing what to do. Fortunately the wise head in the jump seat told them "It's spurious, carry on with your tanking!" We were also concerned that an electric nanny might also call out "Retard, retard" if the receivers got within 30ft of the rad alt, so a note to this effect is now included in the relevant FCOM section.

CRM? I was always amused by RFK's comment about that: "CRM? That's for poofs!".

The 'wet-behind-the-ears' comment was to infer that that GPWS is supposed to make flying 2-pilot people-tubes safe no matter how inexperienced the crew are - that's all.
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