Originally Posted by BOAC
PJ - the problem with your suggestion is that it does not cover all bases, in that with a total baro data failure one could see a crew 'floundering' for a pitch attitude, whereas 5 is SAFE, will not cause a stall from steady cruise and will then give time to enter the trouble shooting phase with pitch/power from the QRH.
Exactly! Thank you for sparring me the effort of explaining.
Originally Posted by gums
I am disturbed by some here that believe you can handle an emergency situation or an "upset" ( love that term, and cracks me up and guess it really means "WTF?, over") by following rote, memorized procedures for more than a few seconds.
In context of AF447, only significant upset was pilot induced. That what you call "rote" are memory items for unreliable airspeed procedure. It is not upset but can turn out to be, if handled inappropriately.
Originally Posted by gums
Make no mistake, great cockpit displays and unambiguous caution/warning indications are extremely important. I don't believe the AF447 crew had such.
I am sorry sir, but ambiguity of "STALL STALL STALL STALL STALL STALL STALL STALL STALL STALL STALL STALL STALL STALL" aural warning is lost upon me but it is for BEA HF group to discover why crew went selectively deaf on stall warning. Granted, stickshaker and big red flashing "STALL" in the middle of PFD or as separate light somewhere on glareshield might have helped a bit but questions remain: why did the RH pilot pulled the aeroplane in the stall in the first place? Why didn't the LH pilots survival instinct kick in?
Originally Posted by gums
the sucker will settle into a decent stall and not spin due to great yaw control laws
There are no control laws affecting the A330 rudder. It is mechanically controlled, with electrical: trim, yaw damping and turn coordination. Rudder is totally conventional (in the context of heavy jet) and can not be blamed for A330 resistance to spin.
Originally Posted by gums
I also want to take exploit this post to challenge one contributor that asserts the best way to stop on a slick runway is to watch the speed indications on the gauges. (...) Ain't no gauge invented except a HUD with a good flight path vector that is still working with weight-on-wheels that shows you that you are sliding off the runway. You look out the windshield and feel your skid. Simply holding a heading won't help.
No kidding... you might as well name me, sir.
You might find interesting that in my regular airline life, I have absolutely no need to look down to see any of those aforementioned parameters. They are all nicely and neatly presented in front of me on Flight Dynamics (TM) Head-up Guidance System. Inertial deceleration. Air data derived deceleration. GPS groundspeed. Inertial flightpath vector. Runway remaining in low visibility roll-out mode.
I find all of those a bit more reliable and precise than my own nether regions, sir.
However, during my A320 days, we had no HGS and crew coordination during tricky landings was even more important than nowadays, when it's bloomingly high. It was expected that PF would keep an eye on the world outside, trying to keep the aeroplane on the centerline so PNF would keep head down and monitor spoiler deployment, reverser operation and deceleration. We believed that one's sense of deceleration is not to be trusted, especially when one is struggling to maintain the control so we task shared. I don't think we were wrong.