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Old 16th Feb 2012, 17:13
  #496 (permalink)  
drive73
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
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It appears he was on the false glid slope at 9 degrees rather than the 3 degrees. That's why the ap was flying the glide slope descending at nearly 1700 fpm. The first time I think it dawns on him is whe the fo states the runway in site below us. That's when he turns off the ap and starts descending at almost 3 k a minute.
I wouldn't think he was in a mental state that he could do no wrong at this point. It really appears he was way behind the situation and it lead to tunnel vision, which is why I say it can happen to any one of us. The lesson to learn is effective communication is key. After waking the fo didn't properly let the captain know about the state of the descent profile, the captain didn't properly understand why his fo was telling him to go around. This crash is a perfect example of poor cockpit communication, the barrier being the capt woke up too late to fully get his brain running properly. Tunnel vision in critical places can happen to anybody and pilots really need to recognize when someone is in this state and know how to jolt them out of it and bring them back in the game.
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