Autopilot disengagement timing
The chairman of the investigation noted that Autopilot1 was engaged before the event, and remained so till the end of the recording.
I wonder what is considered to be the minimum time by commercial pilots to disengage the autopilot in a severe upset event. In two cases:
a. instinctive reaction,
b. fastest reaction time after fast analysis (in quite a few general (=not specifically A/P related) cases there is talk about 12 seconds...),
And do different airlines have different default (training) procedures? Do you go to the button on the stick or do you go to the buttons on the 'glareshield'. The first procedure makes it easier to have an instinctive reaction. The second requires more consideration, and automatically takes longer.
To this day pilot incapacitation has not been an item.
Last edited by A0283; 10th Nov 2015 at 12:52.