Originally Posted by
BOAC
... and as I said before, that both AB and AB pilots are having some serious thoughts about the way they present and operate the type.
Airbus* changed their tune nearly two decades ago, after they lost Nick Warner. Honest question, and I don't want you to think I'm getting at you - when was the last time you honestly heard an Airbus pilot or TRE say that it was impossible to stall the aircraft under any circumstances? If it was more recent than the mid-'90s I'd be inclined to suggest you report them to their chief pilot, because that's a dangerous misapprehension.
I suspect/hope this and the PGF crash have opened a few eyes. The parallel I draw is the driver I saw last winter here who, dazzled by the brilliance of the 'perfect' ABS in his car, was amazed when it let him slide into another car on sheet ice.
Then that's another fundamental misunderstanding of how the ABS system works - it does exactly what it says on the tin in that it will release the brake pads for a split-second if it detects the wheels locking up - in essence it's just automating what is known as "cadence braking" if you do it manually. It doesn't necessarily stop you in any shorter distance than regular brakes (in fact some of the earlier systems actually induced a *longer* stopping distance than with correctly-applied conventional brakes), but what it does do is give you more control over steering than you have with locked wheels. On ice, even with ABS working full-chat, your stopping distance will still be significantly greater and your ability to steer will still be severely compromised. Heaven knows I've read many road safety articles over the years warning drivers that ABS will not necessarily stop them in a shorter distance even under normal conditions, let alone on wet roads or ice, and it's astonishing how little this information is understood by drivers, though in my experience most driving instructors are aware of those limitations if you ask them.
You'd like to think that pilots, TREs especially, would have a more in-depth knowledge of the systems they are training people to use!
@RWA - From what I understand from talking to current and former line pilots, the FBW Airbus simulators do indeed simulate the behaviour under different laws. I think it was PJ2 on the Tech Log threads who mentioned that he took a sim check that simulated failure all the way down to Manual Reversion mode, where the only controls available are the pitch trim and rudder - he also mentioned that he successfully landed the simulator, but was thankful he wasn't faced with the challenge in real life.
No design is perfect, but on here opinion seems to be clearly divided as to whether the decision to go without tactile feedback was a major oversight. The opinion that it was seems to be largely held by people who've never flown the thing, and it seems that most that have don't regard it as a major loss. As a non-pilot I'm bound to watch what I say and hold a neutral position on the subject, but from what I understand about the design and training as a holistic entity I'm inclined to agree with the latter. I have yet to be presented with incontrovertible evidence that any FBW Airbus incident to date would have been avoided by having the sidesticks connected via backdrive.
Opinion seems to be split as to how the A330 handles under Alternate Law - so far we've had one pilot saying that they were surprised at the increase in response, and IIRC two saying that there wasn't that much difference and they adapted to it fairly quickly. The pilot in the former case seemed to believe that Airbus was directly involved in the de-skilling of pilots, a claim which again I've seen no evidence to support - so I'm less inclined to trust his opinion. At least one of the latter is well-respected on here as a no-nonsense senior pilot whose opinion I therefore trust implicitly.
[* - By which I mean the marketing department and executives - the engineering department had always been realistic about the aircraft's capabilities (good though they were)... ]