Here's a professional take and more detail on what happened:
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/in-focus-after-af447-what-now-377433/
and another view:
http://www.flyingmag.com/technique/accidents/predicament-air-france-447
Full power stick forward isn't what was being taught in airline stall
recovery training. Add power and fly out was the method. If you
assume that the stall is going to happen at low altitude where it is
vital to minimise altitude loss during recovery, perhaps not so bad.
However it turned out that nobody knew where this came from. Nobody
could remember. Seems it was likely from back in the 50s with piston
airliners where adding power will immediately increase lift on the
wing and it won't cause much pitch up unlike the case with underslung
jet engines. Both Boeing and Airbus test pilots said that wasn't what they did.
It is a good idea to examine assumptions and doctrine (aka "standard
procedures") occasionally.
Now AF447 wasn't good but it was at night with a heavy aircraft close
to the corner where the speed range between Mach buffet and stall
wasn't high and they were encountering tops of thunderstorms.
There are questions about cockpit displays and Airbus ergonomic
design as well as crew training and actions. Just displaying AoA
should have helped. There's really no post stall airline training and
simulators don't do it well. These things are being addressed but
don't bet that Airbus will be forced to redesign their cockpits. Too
much money and politics involved.
As for your examples of people who can fly who pulled off dire
emergencies, the first thing is that they were all very lucky.
Sullenberger had a large enough, calm, stretch of river to land in.
There was nowhere else to go. I doubt his glider training had
anything to do with it. In fact he hit the water at twice the
recommended maximum sink rate for a ditching due to having flared too
early and lost energy. DeCrespigny had a severe systems management
problem which fortunately was recoverable, just, with what he had to
work with. The guy in the Gimli glider had a different systems
management problem. All did more than adequate jobs.
With the carnage rate in gliding, I doubt gliding has much to offer.
Some basic stick and rudder skills while day VFR. Judgement, not so
much. Even the basic stick and rudder skills, stall and spin training
don't seem to prevent stall spin accidents. In the Tocumwal accident
on Dec 23rd 2012 I wonder if the tre got in the way vertically
between the glider and the ground. Unfortunately we'll never know.
Mike
At 10:53 PM 12/05/2013, you wrote:
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Just saw the 60 Minutes program on the Air France A330 crash in the
Atlantic a few years ago. Unbelievable.
The aircraft is in cruise on Auto pilot, flying through storms over
the Equator at around 35,00ft. Three of the Pitot's ice up
momentarily and the Auto pilot shuts off.
PIC takes manual control and pulls the stick fully aft..... we
don't know why.
Obvious result, the aircraft climbs and at 40,000ft with full PAX
and heavy fuel load the Airbus stalls. Aural warning "Stall Stall Stall"
So what do you think the pilot did?
Obviously full power, stick forward, recover to level flight, reduce
power right?
Uh Uh.
He maintains full aft stick and current power setting. Try's to
figure out why the computer has got it all so wrong. While the PIC
maintains full aft stick, the aircraft is fully stalled and dropping
like a stone until at 4,000ft P2 takes over, at which point the
Ground Proximity Warning sounds, "Pull Up, Pull Up", so he , yes you
guessed it, pulled back on the stick. End of the flight.
As glider pilots we are trained to recognise and correct an
aerodynamic stall, if you are pushing things in a tight and gnarly
thermal stalling is a constant issue and we deal with it
automatically. Stall and spin recovery training is a fundamental of
our flight training. It is therefore staggering to me that the
people who are trained to fly these incredibly complex aircraft such
as the A330 do not actually know how to fly.....
Well, not universally true, Tom knows how to fly, WPP knows how to
fly, Capt Sullenberg, Peter De Crespigny and the guy who landed the
"Gimli Glider" know how to fly, but guess what they were/are all glider pilots.
So next time you get into an airliner cross your fingers the guy up
front learnt to fly gliders first!!
ROSS
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