Airbus Crosswind... "White Knuckled Landing"
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Sweden
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Without going into the B vs. A discussion, could someone with airbus experience clarify something for me? ...Since I have exactly 0 minutes flight hours on an airbus.
We were lining up behind a departing A340 in a strong crosswind. There was NO aileron input at all into the wind during their takeoff roll. The plane was clearly begging for it, as the upwind wing was higher than the downwind wing. When it lifted off the runway, only THEN was aileron input introduced. My colleague said that this was normal in an airbus because of design/control law etc.
To me it seems consistent with this landing of this airbus in Birmingham, above. No cross control in the way I have been doing the past 3 decades on boeings.
We were lining up behind a departing A340 in a strong crosswind. There was NO aileron input at all into the wind during their takeoff roll. The plane was clearly begging for it, as the upwind wing was higher than the downwind wing. When it lifted off the runway, only THEN was aileron input introduced. My colleague said that this was normal in an airbus because of design/control law etc.
To me it seems consistent with this landing of this airbus in Birmingham, above. No cross control in the way I have been doing the past 3 decades on boeings.
all these stupid rules, with FDs, APs, Autothrust, Visual approaches
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How true that is. One 737 operator in Australia now requires their crews to select landing flap downwind because their pilots have difficulty flying a visual downwind and cannot guarantee to be stabilised for landing by 1000 ft. So the powers that be decide that if you can arrange to be stable and all landing checks completed before turning base, then in theory they should already be stable passing 1000 ft.
The commercial imperatives in a competitive market make it difficult for the airlines to justify spending the additional time for training that is above the minimum required to achieve compliance with an approved training matrix. Reinforcement training is great, when the issues are known, but most of the time we are placing bandaids on top of bandaids, making checklists include more items that can now get in the way of driving an aircraft. This is off topic, but then the topic was to raise the general question of training and comfprt of our flight crew going out into the wide world and slaying dragons on a daily basis. Aviation doesn't happen because of lift and drag, it happens because of confidence that people have in being able to go out and deal with the vagaries of operating in a complex dynamic environment.
Around 98% of all HF incidents involve loss of SA at some point in the process. Often, it is because the crew are busy dealing with compliance matters, (not always, but ti happens), and end up losing the plot. Our rules, regulations and procedures end up being blood based, and become a cascade of changes to the operator of the aircraft. Sometimes those changes are well thought out, and the change management processes really deal with risk analysis, sometimes they do not. The best solution is going to be well trained crews, who comprehend what the rules are, and why they are there. That is the same as a reasonable way to fly, knowing what you do, and why you do so. The upside of some knowledge about why is that when things go pear shaped, then the mismatch between what needs to occur, is recognised, S.A. Level 1, understood S.A. Level 2, and the implications of the problems can be comprehended promptly, S.A. Level 3, and defences implemented to maintain a safe operation.
Today, we do little in the way of S.A. training, which is a shame as it impacts all aspects of the operation, and can be conducted at very low levels of fidelity.
Cognitive loads on the flight crew impact S.A. and it's maintenance. The risk areas are identifiable in the funny pages, as well as the happy snaps such as the videos in this thread etc. The conditions we ask crews to fly in puts considerable load on the crew to make good decisions, and there are occasions that the crews would probably make different decisions if they could roll back the clock, and the passengers might just understand that.
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The Green/Magenta Line?
The media has recently featured several really young crews, flying their all singing and dancing, company wonder jet. When your destination is a socked in, and a "captains only" landing, (Thinking Nice on Westerlies) should I not be more nervous?
IG
Originally Posted by Centaurus
One 737 operator in Australia now requires their crews to select landing flap downwind because their pilots have difficulty flying a visual downwind and cannot guarantee to be stabilised for landing by 1000 ft. So the powers that be decide that if you can arrange to be stable and all landing checks completed before turning base, then in theory they should already be stable passing 1000 ft.
And don't get me wrong; I am all in favour of having the visual pattern in our quiver of options. Now, back to white-knuckle crosswind landings!