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Old 25th Jan 2015, 21:20
  #942 (permalink)  
PJ2
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: BC
Age: 76
Posts: 2,484
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Uplinker;

So long as you know your memorized drills and the SOPs for running the ECAM and the paper checklists and set aside the initial surprise, you should be fine. Slow, deliberate actions, coordinated with the PM is all it takes - loss of airspeed indication is not an emergency at cruise altitudes, and the training for the drill provides (or should...it's an Airbus document), for the "flight not at risk" decision, (as opposed to just after takeoff or on approach).

Many here have expressed that they now pay much closer attention to both power and pitch attitudes during the flight and so are ready for "normal" should the airspeed indication be lost, while they get out the QRH for the precise numbers. That's just basic airmanship.

If you've done an unreliable airspeed event, you'll have seen what AF447 initially saw and experienced - you'll have lost the AP & AT with associated audible warnings and ECAM caution messages, (including lost ADRs), you will have dropped into Alternate Law and will have the greyed-out sections on the PFD where data has been lost, (no trend arrow). Not sure what else you wish to experience. But you could pull the sim up to 15deg and watch the THS, stall and watch the rate of descent. You can recover by holding the stick fully-forward until the FPV begins to come up from the bottom of the PFD. You'll feel when the wing begins flying again - takes about 45" and about 12,000ft, roughly, from FL380. Most level D sims will "simulate" the stall behaviour but it isn't based upon flight-test data as you've probably read numerous times.

As far as articles in magazines go, while they may hold interest for some, the best policy for those who fly these aircraft is to stick with just one book and know it thoroughly - the FCOM.
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