Fade to grey
 

While taking your point about use of automatics I find that those who shout the loudest about raw data flying being obsolete are those who can't fly with raw data.

Do you think that an A330 would be at the bottom of the South Atlantic if the pilots had a good grasp of raw data flying ?

What is it with the Dutch and their eager to discuss everything openly, the UK-ers with their overdepency on automation and procedures, the Germans and their "grundlich by the book"-iness. I guess every nationality has goodies and badies.

My personal experience, being Belgian: yes we like it, we do it. Some of us exagerate, I admit. Being in a situation where I'm flying with a lot of nationalities I adapt, trying not to scare my collegues. No problem. Aviate, navigate, communicate. I don't care how you do it, just do it. We all have our qualities. I love the openminded cockpit created by the Dutch and the procedural knowledge of the UK pilots. But like we Belgians... don't exagerate please. Because from my personal experience, the guys who are the first to complain about hand-flying being "not-done", disconnect at 500...200ft and still manage to land halfway down the runway. That also falls under the category of "unstable approach".

A & C, you have stated an opinion about the loss in the South Atlantic.

Perhaps you could explain why you have such an opinion?

Kick the Tires
 

If the guys flying the A330 had a reasonable knowlage of the pitch and power settings for the aircraft and had been able to hold them the aircraft would not have stalled and been held in a stalled state untill it hit the sea.

Given the conditions I am not saying that they could have held the height and speed very accurately but they should have been able to keep the aircraft flying long enough to sort the situation out.

Basic instrument flying should be a fundamental part of a pilots skills, simply being able to put two magenta bars on a little box in the middle of the PFD is simply not enough, it is essential that a pilot can revert to basics when required.

If the stated allegations about seriously breaking the rules regarding W.A.R.-regs are true,(rules are either respected or broken-there is no such thing as bending) then this should be reported to the applicable authorities asap.
at the same time, touroperators and the general public should be informed as well

It is time the companies that earn money over the backs of pilots by forcing them into illegal practices , jeopardizing their safety and risking the passengers safety are kicked out of the competition.

interesting thread!
 

Hi Guys!

Interesting thread! I just applied as a FO half an hour ago. :)
Am trying to get my first break for a big airline.
Any good advices to prepare for the interview?

Rick