"Most comments on stalling are by those who have never stalled a swept wing jet at high altitude except once or twice in a simulator....."
Before we even get to attempting to practise stalling, in sims of dubious fidelity, how many airline crew posters on this forum have NEVER hand-flown their 'frame, at max mass for the max cruise altitude for that mass?
The "bungee cord" flight controls effect plus the momentum versus control effectiveness is indeed impressive, as is the "fright factor", in S&L controlled flight.
Yet I get the impression, due to some perceived prohibition on hand flying in RVSM airspace, that there are out there now, both F/Os and CAPTAINS who have never controlled their allocated craft in such conditions.
If this is indeed true, then we're all on our way to hell in a handcart if that is the xAAs and airline training departments' official policy.
Please, those of you out there still practising the art of airframe manager, prove to me that I'm wrong, and that EVERY current airline pilot has had the opportunity to hand fly a line aircraft full of SLF at max certified altitude/mass until he/she/it are fully aware of and comfortable with the handling characteristics.
If there are any exceptions to this fun experience, may I challenge whether that is a sensible state of affairs?
Which begs the question, per airframe kilometres/nautical miles, are we seeing a real increase in high-altitude LOC incidents/accidents since the introduction of RVSM and the perceived lack of practice in this environment, or is it just my (false) impression?
