AF 447 Thread No. 7

[infrequentflyer789]

Originally Posted by CONF iture

To trim up in such circumstance must be a pilot's call, not one for the automation.
Let the crew make such a deadly mistake, don't do it for him please.

Now we would need to evaluate both item separately ...

We mostly agree. I think the autotrim discussion probably merits a thread in itself as it goes much wide than this accident.

Because trimming to the limit of the AP like in AMS or LGW is not a better idea - AP should give back control before reaching such extreme because autotrim itself should not be allowed to go that far.

Again agreed. In more general terms I fear the industry may have got itself into a nasty spiral:

1. more accidents per hour in manual flying therefore we should use more automatics
2. only times pilots get handed the plane is when George says "something's wrong because we've got to the edge of the envelope, I have limited (no) intelligence and don't know what to do now, so you have control. By the way, that's the stick shaker..."
3. resulting crash happens with human in control and is then another tick in the "mechanics are better than meat" box
4. return to (1)

I've thought for a while that it might even be beneficial if George took a mandatory random bathroom break every flight or so, just to ensure the real pilots are kept excrcised. Ecam: "you have control, I'm off down the back for a pee and to chat up the cute FA, back in 15".

Sadly even if it might be good idea over all, whoever implements it will have blood on their hands and a very unsympathetic hearing sooner or later...

I note that limits for the 320 electric trim and manual trim are different.
It is apparently not the case for the 330 ?

I don't know. I'd really like to see more info on this 320 "limit", in particular where implemented and which laws and on what data, but I've found nothing other than the comments on here so far.