It's not a new problem. Though it's been over 30 years since I flew an
airliner, I recall many captains whose routine was "gear up, autopilot on".
The autopilot was not disengaged until short final. I never used the
autopilot, either on instruments or visually, except for coupled approaches,
which was mandatory at the time.


"Bill Palmer" wrote in message
...
As an A330 Captain, long time instructor on the airplane, and the author of
the book "Understanding Air France 447," I have to agree 100% with the
article.

I fly with pilots every day who NEVER turn the flight director off, and who
fly with captains that would never let them.

Instrument flying skills, flying skills in general, and the ability to
maintain or regain control of the aircraft during an upset event, like any
skill erode with non-use.

When the flight director stops working, or provides erroneous information,
it will add to the difficulty of handling the upset recovery if one is not
trained in how to properly handle the situation and practiced in manual
control.

As one example: Until fairly recently jet airliner stall recovery consisted
mostly of power application and a focus on the minimization of altitude
loss. Many will cite that the AF447 crew did not react to the stall warning.
But I contend that they did - and exactly how they were trained - by
applying full power. Unfortunately, at high altitude, virtually no
additional power is available.


Recovery training in a simulator, even with the best intentions, is limited
in its possible effectiveness by the inherent lack of g-forces and the
knowledge that no matter what happens, you'll get out just fine in a few
hours. It's hard to teach "unloading" in a simulator, when you can't feel
it.
You'll never hang by your seatbelt or see the dirt fly off the floor in a
simulator. You don't want to be doing so for the first time in the weather,
in the dark, with a couple hundred passengers behind you.
Performing these maneuvers in a glider or other acrobatic aircraft adds the
missing dimensions to drive home the principles of upset recovery.

Bill Palmer
understandingAF447.com


On Wednesday, November 13, 2013 9:15:54 AM UTC-8, JS wrote:
News from the Royal Aeronautical Society conference, picked up on the
[Aus-Soaring] newsgroup, and deposited below.

Jim



http://media.aerosociety.com/aerospa...industry/8629/