Emirates...is this for real!!???
 

Quite interesting... :rolleyes:

https://onemileatatime.com/news/emir...q0dUR-uPx4QYNs

What is interesting is how incorrect this article is in its technical descriptions and it’s claims about pilot hiring and that is being polite.
Its actually full of rubbish.

Seems a bit unlikely to me. Firstly the crew would have to forget to set an initial stop altitude, secondly whatever WAS in the alt window is unlikely to have been 0000. What were the previous crew doing? What does it reset to on power down?
Thirdly, isn't it usual to only engage the AP after thrust reduction? In which case it would have been a normal hand flown departure until at least 1000'

What actually happened, what the crew THINK happened, and what they'll admit to: normally 3 different things...

But the altitude was steadily increasing- I don't actually see any anomolly.

The fact that a different flight- probably at a different weight and with different requests from ATC proves exactley zero.

BS from a know-nothing IMHO.

An altitude increase from 75ft to only 175ft within a 11 second timeframe while in the same 11 second timeframe accelerating from 234kt to 262kt seems pretty unusual to me. It seems someone was not flying the bird with normal ~15° pitch up away from the ground.

It seems avherald also has the incident: http://avherald.com/h?article=4f24b2d7&opt=0

Emirates discourages hand flying. AP engagement at 200 feet is normal.

Not quite SOPS, the mantra from Fleet is now to encourage hand flying when conditions allow. Latest OM-A amendment allows manual flying below 20,000', A/T still to remain engaged at all times. Very rarely have I seen the other lad/ladette engage the Autodriver at 200', unless the weather was absolutely pants outside.

I think she set 0000 in the window instead of 4000. After take off she flew the flight directors instead of looking out the window and trusted the FD as it pitched down to the brown.

But that would not explain a 4400 m long take-off run and reaching 216 kts on ground (as claimed by AVH). Something (CG or trim setting) prevented normal rotation?

I don’t see how 4 pilots on the flight deck can all miss seeing 0000 on the MCP as opposed to 4000. There is more to this we don’t know yet.

Pretty embarrassing to read this if you ask me…
Why did none of the 4 guys pick up ‘0000’ in the alt window on the MCP? SOPs, on several occasions, clearly not followed it seems, as the Alt window comes back a few times in the SOPs if I remember correctly…
Then followed by a PF who thought a pitch of 5degrees was going to get a Triple airborne…..Seriously, What the heck were they thinking…..

Embarrassing to read as an exEK driver... Any info on how ‘worked out’ these guys were? Seems to me so erratic that Fatigue might have played a role maybe? Naaah. Fatigue at EK… will never happen right?:suspect:

that event is not a question of following sops anymore.
if an airplane passes the end of runway and is not making any substantial height, the pilots have to take action to change that no matter what sops are saying. But not at EK. The best trained pilots are just watching passing houses underneath and trusting technology, what a f..k..g joke is that. Bottom line is that’s what’s happen if you have sent the experience into redundancy and keep all those on the lower salary with the lower hours on the clock, drive them into total fatigue and stress them with rules of stupidity.
there is one thing clear at EK all those incidents are not only Pilot made, these things are forced by the entire organization and the way they treat employees.
when u are scared of the consequences of being a pilot, there will be a guarantee to make one.

One girl and three guys…
 

Why did none of the 4 guys pick up ‘the 0000’

One girl and three guys.

it does not matter

4 qualified pilots - that’s it - not gender or culture related
if they cannot ignore the flight director if shows in the wrong direction in that phase of flight they should question the pilot skills - but EK teaches only trust in FD and they where missing a crucial information - vertical speed and ALT versus airspeed

I don’t understand is it EK NOPs to follow the bars during takeoff roll ??? We don’t where is the V1 and Rotate calls ?? I don’t think it is only a question of MCP altitude set to 00000.
tire speed limit was exceeded by double as by FR24 if it’s true

Sorry but is the author of the original article simply inferring the incident based on FR24 data? Or has there been an official report filed or investigation opened? If the author is simply looking at FR24 data and then making up the claims it's incredibly reckless. That data is in no way official or accurate close to the ground. Is anyone on this thread an EK pilot that can confirm this actually happened?

Ignore the first article no pitch down after lift off , but an incident did happen check avherald

This is going to be very interesting. Let's see how PC EK is going to be based on Sex and nationality of the PF Captain. Might just save the other 3. But rest assured this was a big f..k up! How many more close calls before the big one ?

All the 4 guys missed it.
Probably fatigue from a previous flight back from the east.

But the ATC gets to see the mcp target altitude !

I like the statement from Boeing's FCOM 1, saying:
Quote" Pilots must be aware that consistent use and reliance on automation levels III and IV throughout the flight regime will degrade basic flying skills. Therefore, pilots must continue to maintain proficiency by using all levels of automation on a regular basis." It looks like basics of flying any kind of airplane are not followed.
Also I believe, if pilots have face mask (required during Covid-19) while flying, it should be looked into for fatigue.

They are not required... Except now in the sim!

My airline has a reasonably supportive view of manual flying and they back it up with a non punitive view to missed approaches and good culture to go with that but even flying short haul, I could just about count on one hand the amount of crew that have switched off the auto thrust on the A320 let alone the stories I hear from our long haul fleet where “it just never happens” is the constant refrain.

I don’t know how we’re ever going to get there if we don’t start mandating some sort of hand flying regime……….happy to be challenged but this has been an issue that has been going on for years and the EK incident in questions shows that things are nowhere near getting better.

I’d be interested to hear what other airlines are doing to address these issues. Even with reasonably progressive policy we’re not there yet.

Manual handling sim session should be lossly scripted and allowed to challenge the individual not make it Max cross winds /pass fail .

I acknowledge that reliance on automation and attrition of flying skills may be an issue but the question we should be asking, is aviation safer or not? How many accidents have been caused by pilots gung-hoing it manually?

Manual flying accident

An extreme example but I am sure I make my point.

The main problem is not the automation itself. The problem is limiting pilots about manual flying the aircraft, losing confidence in our flying skills. Moreover, when something goes wrong with the automation at low altitude instead of disconnecting, manual flying to a safe altitude/path, and then figure it out what happens....we can see pilots trying to solve the problem with the FCU or the MCU.

it’s not the fear of taking over manually, it’s about the consequences you face.
i have seen people who where sceared to takeover manually because the thought it’s going to be flagged in the QR-data and he(she) had to explain it later to the bosses, who are on the other hand are not interested in someone’s from the flight deck comment. If you have ever met a training manager or a chief pilot in that company, he would know he das made a judgment already based on the data without your input. U just go there to receive the blame, nothing else. U most cases they had the warning letter ready without hearing you.
As EK does not train people to make decisions, rather using automation only, yes people will be scared of taking automation out off the game and solve a problem old school with pure pilot skills.

Hand flying
 

The thought about automation being used too much is NOT a new idea.
Back in 1965 in Australia I was an F/O on the all new B727-100 and flew with some very experienced " old salts " some of whom started flying in the late 30's and some WW2 pilots.
One old fella used to make me hand fly the B727 all the way from take off to top of climb and from top of descent right until leaving the runway after landing.
He stated that if I did not keep up my hand flying skills I would soon lose them because of all of this new " automation ". His logic still applies to using Flight Directors as well as auto pilot.
Oh How right he was and I mostly followed his method even when I became a Capt. and also made my trainees do it quite often. I reckon it really kept my skills and scans honed!!!
It did really bother me to see pilots bunging the Auto Pilot in just after gear retraction and only taking it out on short final. Their hand flying skills were almost non existent !!!
This EK incident and so many others like it points to the need to do a lot more hands on flying.
It's as simple as pushing the auto pilot disconnect button and disconnecting the flight director as well and having a go.
It's very obvious that lot's more need to try it.

Isn’t the rotate conducted by looking outside - as it has been since Wilbur and Orville ventured into the air, or is this no longer part of endorsement/transition training at EK?

to be honest I don’t see what handling has to do with what happened.
Disconnecting the autopilot can improve your xchecks but if you have your brain disconnected I does mean nothing.
I use automation but as usual I know in advance what happens next.

Which begs the question. When were Vspeeds actually ‘invented’ … 😉

there are quite a few airlines where AP off means also A/T off - if u deceive to fly manual you don’t fly pseudo Manual and it has a positive effect. Crews are way more focused on the flying and reading instruments - so over all SA is way higher, plus crew coordination is way better in sharing tasks.

this is a quite very good attitude, nevertheless things are happing and if they do you need to know what your alternative options are.
mid your Automation is set wrong it won’t safe u. Last option is manual but it needs trained skills.

EK trains pilots to doubt their skills and having doubts in taking over manually is a good option and exactly there sits the problem.
if u in doubt over the actions in a emergency descent you will **** it up. Same applies to manual flying, if you in doubt over the correctness and being in doubt to throw a little SOP overboard (not about your skills, more over the consequences later in the office) you hesitate. Once in that situation you get blocked and things go worse every second.
experienced pilots don’t doubt in their handling, they do what’s required to stay safe, not always beautiful, but safe and at the end this is what counts. Stay safe. passing houses behind a runway is not safe. What’s is more important- the beautiful SOP or to achieve safety

Probably I have been misunderstood. I did not mean to always use automation. I meant that such a kind of “mistake” has nothing to do with good handling but it has with airmanship and
common sense.

I don't know EK procedures...Are we sure the 2 relief pilots were in the cockpit during flight preparation? The TO briefing? The TO itself?

Hard to put the blame on the folks sitting in the back. 2AM departure, they were probably awake the whole day just to be ready for bed at 10000ft.

I'm not here to put the blame, but to understand.
A third and a fourth pair of eyes would have helped a lot during flt preparation and the briefing on the SID. They could have spotted the very "wrong" 00000 in the MCP.
With only 2 in the cockpit, at 2 or 3 am as it was the case, a bit less easy...When you're on a flight with 3 or 4 pilots, if I'm relief, I sit in the middle, help my friends, and check too. You see many things from behind...
So, were they all in the cockpit?

I don’t think 0000 was set in the window. It seems 4000 was set after the FD was switched on, which left toga/alt on the PFD. There’s a video out there somewhere which shows how the mistake can be made.

i think I got your Part
still like to blame a
on the Organisation behind all off that, because handling skills are experience and training which both is not given to EK pilots
it simple does help to go throu a manual handling verbally in a 2 hr briefing before a sim and never being able to get the experience of the limits and behavior without having hands on.
if u ask a pilot to do a manual swing over between runways, and expect him to perform correctly the best practice is to do normal manual flow approaches on a regular basis.
with all those gathered skills situation which we talk about are not going to be a big deal at all. Something to think about in the aftermath, yes, to learn from it, yes, but they won’t be any danger

3am departures are ops normal for EK . All 4 present for pre departure briefing , which includes " if anyone sees something they don't like , SPEAK UP! " don't go down the fatigue worm hole .

Yet their solution, is to hire more cadets. They advertised just today.
There was an experienced ex-cadet in this one.
And an experienced ex-cadet planted a wheels up 777 in Dubai Airport, not so long ago.
For a pilot to be a 777 FO in the US, he or she has already flown lots of General Aviation, lots of Regional, then more Regional as Captain, then lots of medium range as FO.
Compare the amount of exposure, to that of a Emirati cadet, with 3 landings a month, ILS to ILS fully automated.
Then add the company punitive culture.
And the best is, they stay on denial.
I am positive Emirates will have more of these.
I just hope they get as lucky as with all the other 'incidents', because imagine what could had happened with any of the few last ones.
And the ones that don't come to light.