Regards, Dozy;
To be certain, I was referring only to the autotrim function on the FBW Airbus system - no other aspect of it.
"The old-fashioned way" then being just a reference to the way trim is handled - okay thanks for your clarification - I hadn't read carefully enough. In other words, use the pickle-switches...manually trim all the time when one is manually flying.
Yes, I'd probably agree with the requirement when manually flying as trimming was one tactical feedback loop that I do recall on the Boeings, Douglases and Lockheeds. At the same time, I don't recall it being a transition or operational problem on the A320.
Now I never went back to manual trim airplanes so can't speak for that direction of a transition.
I wonder if the B787 is full-time auto-trim...can't recall at the moment.
However to the best of my knowledge the autotrim system in and of itself has never given up and handed a mess to the pilot.
No the system hasn't by itself handed over a mess, that's an autoflight function
and of course the comment therefore doesn't apply.
Bit OT, but "respect" means trust and belief in reliability and integrity of that which one grants one's respect. That has nothing to do with interest in and / or understanding something although for some it may be a motivator. I do not and never will trust technology per se and do not unconditionally believe in it or its nature but I use it every day and for the most part understand the simpler bits within a consumer's competency.
LW;
Perhaps at the very least this can be grown into at least some procedural training for future crews? We shall see. The original simulators I flew for instrument training some three decades ago were hardly Level D sims, but I sure got graded on my instrument flying in them anyway. Some training was indeed achieved, though I got no style points.
LOL...I can assure you that a Level D sim doesn't make it look any more stylish...
Yes, I agree, I think there is a definite training advantage to seeing 15deg ND and a descent rate of 15,000fpm if only to realize that it (in extreme circumstances, much the same as other unusual attitudes), may be necessary and it doesn't break the airplane. If one is in a corner, I think overspeeding the airframe is preferable to stalling it.
There are some thoughts that recovery from this stall was possible even below FL150 had the wing been aggressively unloaded and the AoA reduced. Up higher it took about 40". Down lower I'd hazard a guess that it would take a lot less time and therefore altitude, (thicker air). The elevators were effective in the sim all the way down even against a -13deg THS, and it always wound towards the ND position with steady ND SS. The FPA would have been available at that time on this flight (IIRC) and could have shown them the descent angle. But by that time, the stick and the elevators were almost continuously full-up.