Originally Posted by
gums
I thot this thread was about "hand-flying" the jet. I realize that much was focused upon the cruise phase, but sooner or later ya gotta land the sucker.
I was referring to the previous threads on AF447 - not this one. And my previous post wasn't meant to be a challenge!
Oh yeah, ya gotta take off to get to the cruise phase. Then a climb, and then a descent. I can just see Joe Baggodonuts ( think Bolin, RIP) descending in sub-law 2(b) modified, or "direct".
Doesn't matter what law you're in - slamming the PFC back in cruise is not the done thing. Normal Law will protect you if it is available should you do so, but directly following an abnormal AP disconnect is not a good time to rely on Normal Law being in operation. The history of "startle effect" contains many instances of pilots pulling up instinctively in unprotected aircraft - this cannot help but cast reasonable doubt on the idea that F/O Bonin pulled up because he reasoned he would be protected.
Oh yeah, the modes are so damned transparent that many pilots don't even know what mode they are in!!
I think that most (probably all) type-rated pilots do know, but it's usually a background detail, and that's kind of the point - the system was designed such that in terms of day-to-day operations, the current mode (distinct from flight law) should seem like a seamless operation to the pilot
And then we have a crew that turns off the air data in order to wrest control from HAL when the AoA sensors went to hell. Gotta hand it to those guys.
As their training and systems knowledge would have suggested. It was a good recovery, no doubt - but the systems aren't as unfathomable as some would like to argue.