Originally Posted by
angelorange
DozyWB - you make some good points and I agree both Airbus and Boeing have gone some way to educate the flying public on correct AoA reduction techniques.
Cheers!
The Airbus get out of jail free option (Windshear, Terrain, Woop Woop pull up, etc) was regularly emphasized for LST/Initial Type Rating training - essentially (in normal/non degraded mode) it allows you to get to the light buffet (Cl max) with maximum thrust and no stall. It requires Full Aft stick and TOGA. What did Bonin consistently do in the confusion?
OK, but was this "option" ever trained at high altitude? It not only looks inappropriate for high-altitude ops, but also seems to be at odds with what the manual states in that situation (i.e. 5 degrees nose up, thrust lock)...
It also doesn't explain Bonin's apparent (and inappropriate) concern about overspeed which followed shortly after, causing him to attempt to deploy speedbrakes. I agree that his reverting to the procedure you describe is a possibility, but the rest of it looks to me like he was throwing almost random elements into the mix (likely due to panic). Nor does it explain why he pulled up so soon after AP disconnect.
Bonin was spooked long before the fatal events - read his reaction to the smell of ozone. But his techniques and both pilot's ignoring a stall warner speak of poor training and poor understanding of the situation their reactions had created.
True, but as I said, 5 other pilots (most of them captains and some of them military veterans) have in the past become similarly spooked and made exactly the same mistake. I refer back to the tests done by the BEA in which 80% of the pilots they studied immediately pulled up in response to an unexpected stall warning.
Have you discovered how much gliding Bonin had done and how long it had been since he stalled a glider?
I think I have something with the qualifications and when he did them kicking around somewhere, but the point I was trying to make was that while training was certainly deficient - it doesn't necessarily follow that Bonin "didn't know how to fly", as the media seem to have suggested.