Originally Posted by
Turbine D
It's not that the crew of AF447 did everything right, it's what they may have been taught or not taught, remembered or not remembered for the situation they found themselves in.
Take a look and tell me what you think.
http://www.iag-inc.com/premium/Airbu...ableSpeeds.pdf
Agree with that, and for what my opinion is worth (not a pilot, but I know, or used to, a bit about building stuff that flies) it still looks confusing. And it has no examples for cruise (as you say).
"If safe conduct of the flight is affected" is a critical decision point (memory items vs. level-off) yet seems to me to be vague and not defined anywhere. Plus all those nice big graphics of the horizon at 15deg pitch up, and toga...
Does "safe conduct affected" just mean "if no danger of terrain impact" ?
If I immediately have problems controlling roll, is safe conduct affected and should I therefore apply the pitch memory items ?
If in RVSM airspace and I'm struggling to level off, is safe conduct affected and should I therefore go to pitch up
??? [ mind you I should be getting out of RVSM anyway without an A/P ?]
If different pilots on here have different answers, then yes, it's all dangerously unclear.
I'm still not sure 447 ties with any of the procedures though. If they were going for the memory items, and recalled the wrong pitch/power, then FD should have been turned off (in, I think, all versions) - and it wasn't.
On the other hand, if they were going for "level off and troubleshoot"... where does the climb come from ?
It could be misapplied proceudre, it could be inadvertent - I think PNF's comments lean towards the latter, but not conclusive.
What might clinch it woudl be the details of the rumoured (posted on here) AF sim tests shortly after the accident. If most of their crews crashed when faced with the scenario on the sim, then something systematic is wrong at AF and not (only) with the guys on the night. If we knew
why they crashed in the tests, then we might be much clearer about why 447 climbed.
I wonder if that info (assuming we believe the rumours) will ever see the light of day, or will AF manage to bury it ?