AF447 Thread No. 3

[bearfoil]

"Lest anyone think I am blaming the Air France pilots for this accident, let me be clear. Despite all of my experience in the aircraft, I am not the least bit certain that I would have been able to maintain control under the same circumstances. I do feel certain that were you to spring this scenario on pilots in a simulator without warning less than half of them would have a successful outcome. Safely flying the 320, 330 and 340-series Airbus requires something of a non-pilot mindset.Lest anyone think I am blaming the Air France pilots for this accident, let me be clear. Despite all of my experience in the aircraft, I am not the least bit certain that I would have been able to maintain control under the same circumstances. I do feel certain that were you to spring this scenario on pilots in a simulator without warning less than half of them would have a successful outcome. Safely flying the 320, 330 and 340-series Airbus requires something of a non-pilot mindset."

Vett this or no, this states the challenge in basic terms. "Informed Perception", or one could say, "Intuition". The conflict was historical in 1960, When Mercury saw the astronauts lining up on the side of the "sticks" or the engineers.

Airbus brought this conflict to the fore, right or wrong. In building an a/c that embraces the left brain approach, aviators took a second seat. Now call this parochial or ego driven, there is a "Factor of Flight" in play.

On the one side, folks can recall the "record". This, to me, is missing the point.

Without a definition of the challenge, anecdotalism merely muddies the water.

I note a very astute gent here who argues well his points. With respect, I note how utterly blind is this man to the fundamental challenge. On t'other side, the old "sticks", who seem to be immersed in nostalgia.

This is NOT "preference", this is brain architecture. I am amazed at my son and his friends, who, after gaming one game for some time, know it completely, beat it completely, and then look for a new game. These are the future pilots, imo. As long as the game doesn't glitch, all are happy.

Problem solving? IMO the really good players can't do math, and cannot perform without "rules". If the game goes south, they get furious, immediately. "something's wrong with the game".