Originally Posted by
BEagle
The chances of the average rear crew member being able to escape with the nose leg extended were close to zero, so extended circuit work was highly unpopular with many rear crew....
It wasn't just the escape system that made it unpopular but the attitudes too.
In light landing configuration with the gear down and airbrakes extended the aircraft had a pronounced nose up attitude. As the rear crew faced rear it followed that their seat positions were less comfortable.
The other attitude was once of the pilots. At then end of one long night sortie when my captain the QFI/IRE was guiding a new copilot we did a number of instrument circuits - each took 10 minutes with the guest AEO reading the check list. Once the requisite stats had been achieved the AEO suggested 'final landing' whereupon the captain said 'no, into visuals.'
Visuals were unpopular also as there was nothing for the rear crew to do at all.
Returning to ops the AEO asked 'why did you do visuals, you didn't need to.'
'Because I wanted to.'
whop
'What did you do that for?' said the captain holding a bloody nose.
'Because I wanted to.'