Originally Posted by
brakedwell
...inverted a Meteor 7 and a crowbar dropped down to the roof
It is very logical to think that, as this subject has been covered in minute detail on various Powerpoints, OHPs, scrolls and stone tablets throughout the years of (military) training that went into producing today's airmen, they will all be fully aware of this issue at all points during their daily life. But in real life you can only say something so many times before people start shutting their eyes to it and dismissing it as 'yes, yes, we've heard all that'. It takes that crowbar, and the subsequent moment in the laundry room where you decide that the underpants in question are not fit for purpose anymore, to really drive the message home and never, ever forget it again. Before instructors start chucking loose items of hardware in the cockpits of their students as they send them off on their first solo, I am not advocating that we all go through this precise scenario but I would like to say that I think that we may rely a bit too much on the 'training covers everything' mantra.
There are two types of pilots out there. Those who have encountered that crowbar in mid roll (substitute pen, coffee mug, camera, notepad, kneeboard, spanner, phone or any other item of choice for crowbar if you want) and those who have not. I would venture a guess that the first group is a bit more enthusiastic in their teaching on this subject than the second group. Nothing wrong with being in either group but we need to accept that the relevant message is ingrained in each student with various degrees of effectiveness.
Going back to the Voyager incident. I for one think that this is the mother of all Swiss Cheese examples (even though I am not a huge fan of that particular model). In no particular order we have:
- Window of circadian low
- Low workload
- A distraction
- A very specific setting of the armrest
- An object that is exactly the right shape to fit against the sidestick base
- A not-fully-familiar cockpit (let's face it, how long has the Voyager been in operation)
- A flight control system without feedback to the controls
- An unfamiliar autopilot with various options to consider when faced with an anomaly
I'm sure that this list can go on. My main point here is that this particular combination of circumstances was on one hand so unlikely that I doubt if it would have taken more than five minutes during a type rating course, if at all, but on the other hand it is a great lesson for all of us in the non-crowbar group to take with us and, hopefully, help us to stay away from that group for a little while longer.