Emirates B777 gear collapse @ DXB?

[vilas]

4468
Further to the muscle memory myth I want to include the misuse of the word instinctual. Humans as specie have no instincts once they leave the ground. Flying is an acquired habit/skill. What we do in the air is habitual and not instinctual. Habits can be drilled into subconscious but they are not instincts. That is why in the air when a required aspect of that skill is found wanting no instinctual act comes to rescue and crashes happen. AF447, QZ8501 may well have been the results of being instinctual. We are taught as a first principle of instrument flying to ignore all bodily sensations and orientation clues human body creates. Why Boeing designed their FBW the way did has nothing to do with being instinctual but choosing a design philosophy that was more conventional i.e. speed stable and transitioning pilots were habitually used to it. Moving thrust levers was not designed for tactile feed back but was merely an improvement on the existing system of manual thrust control in B747 classics. First it was only capable of maintaining speed during approach then came the much celebrated FFRATS(Full Flight Regime Auto Throttle System). It continued on to 747 400 with FADEC/FMS and then on to 777. Both Boeing and Airbus chose their different design philosophies more to suite their commercial interest than anything else. Airbus was not a major player with conventional aircrafts. They offered the market something different, economical and safer for low experience level pilots. They have successfully created/added a segment that finds it difficult to move away from airbus . Boeing on the other hand wanted to keep its flock together so avoided the culture shock by keeping things conventional.
However the accidents in both the philosophies we keep discussing have generally come from lack of knowledge of automation and/or lack of manual flying skill. Acquiring skill in one may not replace the deficiency in the other. Statistics abundantly prove that automation has made flying easier and safer for pilots. Flying has become so safe that involving in an accident requires real bad luck. In the present case had the pilot not gone around could have added another accident free 10/15000 hrs. without having ever known how to execute a rejected landing.