Originally Posted by
B-HKD
The Aeroflot A310 accident was caused by the captains son turning the control column and disabling the A/P lateral mode. Not only did the Captain fail to notice this, but while attempting to recover the ever increasing bank, he failed to turn off the A/P all together which would have given him full control over the aircraft again.
Hmm - a few salient points:
- While I think said pilot held Captain rank, he was not PIC on that flight
- Aeroflot A310 crews told investigators that the engagement of CWS mode by turning the yoke for 30 seconds was not covered in their training - it's likely he'd never have allowed them to touch the yoke if it was
- None of the flight crew, including the PIC, batted an eyelid at allowing the kids on the flight deck and in the seat, which implies that this was not a one-off
- Soviet-era jets apparently only allowed AP disconnect via the switch, and had no CWS mode
- By the time the boy raised the alarm, the aircraft's bank was on the verge of generating G-forces that prevented his father from reaching the AP disconnect
- The PF allowed the bank to progress, which implies he was not scanning his instruments
Ironically, even after the AP disconnected the A310 had a failsafe system which would return the aircraft to straight-and-level after an upset. All they had to do was release the yokes. The final stall was not a result of the boy's inputs, but that of the crew.
As flyboyike says though, this is a completely different matter from that being discussed on the thread.