first;
from the last reply from quid who started the thread;
good point about the limitations of the auto-pilot.
secondly;
as i look through my performance section of Boeing's D6-1420 manual about jet performance, which i copied while no one was looking, and somehow lost the first page with the proper title,
i see that in the cruise section, ALL the types of cruises; constant M and W/d, constant altitude (for max range or long range cruise), constant M and altitude, and rated thrust, are shown with graphs that have CURVED lines.
so when someone uses the term "step" it is not entirely invalid. the analogy to the wave is visually shown in these graphs. and when you fly through it enough, you will indeed recognize that it is invisible water that you are going through. aerodynamics is very similar to fluid dynamics. many wing tests have been done in oil fluids.
thirdly;
when VMU said, to the effect of, "the thing i hate most is when my colleagues speak of the step"...and we see later that you apparently are right seat of a turboprop-
i am surprized at your attitude. not that i haven't seen it before, but i am always surprized at it. and have seen it in myself at times, but have had it broken after all these years at a high cabin altitude.
if i may be allowed to speak directly to this point, VMU, and you do have the choice to listen or even add my reply to the list of things you hate the most from colleagues,
that attitude is dangerous, especially in an aircraft.
we will never be able to READ all that we need to know about flying. there is a lot about JUST clear air turbulence that we still don't know about well enough to predict it reliably.
and the captain may be able to show you something without having a chapter and verse reference to prove it to your immediate approval.
with 12,600+ hours total time and 4600+ hours in the left seat of B737's, one thing i am dismayed at is first officers who will not listen.
i understand now why many captains simply sit quietly for hours and seem to enjoy just flying the airplane. if they are like me, they have made hundreds of attempts to show first officers something that could help, but over the years we have learned that he/she must first want to learn before he/she will listen, and that our unrequested assistance is not taken very well. so we stay quiet until asked, or paid to instruct.
when i was in the right seat, i watched everything a captain did and took mental notes and sometime written notes. and i asked lots of questions.
now in the left seat, i show the first officers the best of what i have learned, and tell them, if there is anything i can help you with let me know. or after they have f..ked it up well enough that i must do something, i tell them what they could have done, thinking that if they want to listen, they will ask.
don't mean to berate at all, just a suggestion. and the subject was a smoking gun when i read this thread after two days with a 800 hour first officer who thinks he knows it all. but his flying gave irrefutable proof that he didn't. and after parking, when i told him what he could have done, he started arguing. i told him that he needed to stop talking and listen and watch the end product of his method of flying.
and these type of first officers actually think that we are required to let them fly the airplane????
why should we?
i will go quiet now about this.
i am listening.
stator vane