411a
That quote is what we heard at AA (contrary to Airbus statements and hooplah).
A few other points about the NTSB hearing. THere were some ground rules laid out by the new chair of the NTSB before the hearing which directly restricted the APA's ability to defend their pilot.
I have forgotten the woman's name at this second in time, but she doesnt know anything about airplanes. I hope she knows something about trains and can help out in a train accident because she was worse than useless in this case. One of her ground rules was "I will not let you turn this into an advertisement for beoing." which makes an excellent sound bite.
The problem with this is that AA is the largest airline in the world 800+ jets off 100,000 lbs or greater, and thus has an ENORMOUS body of experience in operating aircraft. More than most countries of the world. Airbus was directly attacking the way that AA operates aircraft and trains their pilots. If it was the training that was the problem, then there should have been other incidents of aircraft exceding design or ultimate loading. And yes there were. There were a total of 7 incidents of aicraft exceding design loading and 2 incidents of aircraft exceding ultimate loading (including 587) on the tails over the last 20 years. The problem is that they were ALL on the airbus fleet of 35 aircraft, and none on the 727/737/757/767,777,MD80/MD11/DC10/DC-9/F100.
That is not a statistical abberation and indicates there is nothing wrong with the techniques employed by pilots in line operations except on one aircraft type. That means there is a problem with the aircraft type, not the pilot corps. Furthermore we were able to identify other incidents in other airline fleets that were simliar to ours. But as this was not to be an "advertisement for boeing" we were forbidden from introducing the evidence.
As to the rudder movements during the first wake and the second wake. It is very likely that during the first wake Sten did not excede breakout force on the rudder pedals, hence the no movement. You may think you are making an application but because you are beneath breakout force you are not, but since the ailerons are still doing the job and the aircraft is going the direction that you expect it to, no further pressure is required. In the second wake he definately exceded the breakout force (probably for the first time in all the years he had been on the aircraft) and the result was not what was expected as the rudder is guaranteed to go to the stop and then all hell breaks loose.
There was also testimony from airbus as I recall that it was possible to go through the rudder load limiter if enough force was applied, which had me "gobsmacked". The only time you should come up against the load limiter is in the heat of battle, and then it should be protecting you from yourself at that point. Hence the whole point of a rudder load limiter . I dont know about other pilots, but in the heat of battle this pilot has an adrenal gland that might make me somewhat stronger than normal.
Cheers
Wino
Last edited by Wino; 7th Nov 2002 at 16:38.