About a decade ago towards the end of my 73 "classic" sim conversion syllabus, we did some UP recovery training in the "box", owned and run by a major British airline.
Great fun and somewhat informative despite the lack of "g" and dirty laundry factor.
Some time later at another session I asked to use up the spare time at the end of a OPC session by practising UPs and recoveries, same company and simulator.
The answer was a definite NO. The reason was attributed to the complaints from the simulator engineers that our manoeuvres were placing abnormal stresses on the motion hydraulic jacks and structure and cracks were either detected or feared.
Can anyone cast any light on whether this was the real reason this exercise was dropped from the menu?
Re hand flying the real aircraft, my previous (now defunct) airline actually had a statement in the Ops Manual Part A saying "it is unlawful to hand fly above 10,000 feet", probably due to an altitude bust alleged to have occurred to one of the movers and shakers of that company. Other colleagues in that and another airline say it is forbidden to hand fly in RVSM airspace, so I presume I'll just have to eject if the A/P goes phut at cruise altitude?! The MEL is vague regarding u/s A/Ps, the wording seems to revolve around "must be a least one altitude holding capability" (F/Ds?) or similar wooly wording.
I thought the average pilot instrument rating included the requirement to fly S&L to well within RVSM limits, so is management going to accept my diversion on departure from Egypt to Europe due to cruising below RVSM flight levels and running low on fuel as a result? Though me and my oppo in the flight deck are tested as capable of such S&L flight, the written guidance on this issue is alas vague in the companies for whom I have flown, so I would appreciate any constructive input on the topic from those who can quote HARD FACTS please.
So is it any wonder that the pilot community as a whole are suffering from a lack of handling skills, even before the bean-counters via the training empires are pushing automatics for economy reasons?
