Hello, CJ;
Yes, that's the section he's discussing: - T-tails and the "super-stall" and the section I have quoted comes right after that specific discussion, (pgs 115 - 120).
I understood his discussion on "the complete picture" at the beginning of page 121 to be relevant to all heavy transport types and not specific to the T-tail configuration, which is why I considered it pointing to what constitutes a "good education for pilots new to high altitude, high Mach number flight", if nothing else.
I'm no longer confident:
a) that this knowledge is taught either on the way to the ATPL or to new-hire pilots on the assumption that they already know it all and,
b) that the "assumption" is correct.
Edit: Thanks Retired F4 - confirms my sense of what's being taught and what is being assumed.
I get the strong sense that Davies' approach to matters of aviation and in particular heavy transport flight, is unfamiliar today, not because today's pilots are less keen and less interested in their profession but because bean-counting airline executives believe that "all today's airplanes are automatic" and so teaching things aeronautical as opposed to teaching the minimum "NTK", (need-to-know) to operate the airplane and pass the FAA/TC/JAR (haven't included Australia here, yet), rides has contributed to the present state of affairs and pilots, as a group, have let management get away with this brand of thinking and haven't taken the bull by the horns because many don't know what they don't know about flying airplanes. Just because one can manipulate the controls and land the thing doesn't mean one "knows stuff". The First Officer of the Colgan Q400 is sadly, tragically, one example. The poor soul was never taught about the business she was in or bread-and-butter aerodynamics, just the NTK about how to work the airplane.
Last edited by PJ2; 19th Jul 2011 at 23:15.