Great, another aeronautical moral panic, started by not completely up-to-date journo. This time topic is : "pilot's today don't know how to operate wx radar".
Folks, have a go at AF447 report; that nasty ice that tries to clog your pitots lurks around storm cells. Somewhere around them, not necessary above them. It is so elusive a beast that we so far know it is associated with deep depressions and that's about it. You can avoid echoes religiously and still hit it. Most of the time, you even won't know you did.
Originally Posted by David Kaminski-Morrow
the returns from the aircraft's weather radar - which had no auto-tilt function - suddenly intensified to indicate surrounding convective weather.
As they usually do when penetrating area of high moisture content (Boeing's acronym does make sense) or when radome gets iced over. It's not a bad thing. Gives clueless folks additional avoidance margin.
Originally Posted by David Kaminski-Morrow
But the circumstances bear a similarity to those preceding the Air France flight AF447 accident in June 2009, when an A330 cruising at 35,000ft flew into a storm cell, suffering icing of its pitot system.
It never flew into a storm cell but don't let the facts ruin a good story.
Originally Posted by RAT 5
we usualy use the 2 out of 3 is correct rule.
If 2 of 3 show 80 while they were showing 280 a couple of seconds before, no significant deceleration was felt and aeroplane still maintains altitude with 2° pitch, well so much for the rule-based knowledge.
Originally Posted by RAT 5
This very informative about the use of Wx radar gain. I've not heard it explained so, and not read it either, even in user's guides. Asked around in our training dept. EU based; puzzled looks. CB's can go high in Europe as well. Seems there's a lack of guidance out there.
Sad but true. A certain company back in 90-ies produced book called "Flight Crew Manual", for internal use strictly, with all the arcane stuff from manufacturer's manuals presented in non-politically-correct way, including practical tips&tricks on Wx radar use. Wonder if it is still in print.
Originally Posted by RAT 5
Did the Capt's side give stick shaker?
No stick shakers on the bus.