PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Air Asia Indonesia Lost Contact from Surabaya to Singapore
Old 9th Feb 2015, 16:29
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c.j.shrimpton
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Sim training is the answer

There seems to be so much discussion in this thread about stall recovery techniques that I wonder if there are many out there who don't understand the problem and wouldn't know what to do - some of them Bus drivers. Stall recovery training on the "unstallable" Airbus was like the lifeboats on the "unsinkable" Titanic, not deemed very important. Airline training has concentrated on recovery from an approach to a stall at low level. This is a very different from the situation of the aircraft being in a fully developed stall at high altitude where the recovery technique is quite different. Now that four Airbus aircraft have been lost to stall events (two on test flights), it's clear that crews need to be better trained in case they do experience such a rare event. This needs classroom and simulator training even if the fidelity of the sim is not 100% - it's the drill that counts.

As for the Bus not giving the pilot full control, Bonin had full control available and could have saved his aircraft if he'd used it correctly. He didn't realise the predicament he got into - a full stall - by mishandling the aircraft (in Alternate Law 2, at very high altitude, in turbulence, at night, fatigued, frightened and inexperienced) and didn't know what to do to recover. Neither did his more experienced crew member.

It doesn't help that the Bus doesn't have stick shaker or pusher, so all the more reason to be trained to recognise a proper stall and not to ignore a stall warning unless absolutely sure it is false.

There is a very good YouTube video on Airbus Stall Training.

Yes, the Trident had a pusher. It had to have one because the "T" tail made it liable to get into a deep stall from which there was no recovery! Sadly, on one occasion where it might have helped the crew, it was overridden (presumed false ?) and the aircraft crashed.
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