Old School 737
NG's now and it is A OK!!
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2005
- Posts
- 986
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Gorila ... after they laid the aa new york crash on the pilots I will bash them all i want... they refuse to be held responsible for anything.
I'll bash Airbus, and not be ashamed to do so. I've flown with Airbus fleet managers, and guys who worked intimately with the boys in Toulouse, and to a man they say the 'bus arrogance is overwhelming. It's never their fault, ever. Always pilot error. Manufacturing issues; it's their suppliers. Etc, etc, ad nauseum.
For you non-airbus flyers....and specifically JP4....they placed the blame squarely where it belonged in that A320 accident...the facts below.
The A320 has low speed protection....that is if any attempt is made by the pilot to fly at a speed lower than stall....there is an alpha-protection mode called "alpha floor". This commands full thrust regardless of autothrust mode, engagement status, or throttle position. This makes the aircraft in effect "stall proof". However, there is one wrinkle.
When the aircraft breaks 50' AGL (forgive me if the exact number is wrong), it assumes the pilot is landing the aircraft. You can imagine if while trying to land the jet the airplane entered alpha floor protection and added full thrust. The Captain of that flight briefed doing the slow flyby at an altitude of 150' AGL. He was flying the aircraft and pulled the thrust to the idle position and leveled out @ 30' AGL instead. He was showing the "alpha" protection mode....except that once he broke the 50' plane, this protection is no longer available. By the time he realized his mistake and added full thrust, the aircraft was way behing the power curve and with full thrust was only able to maintain level flight and perhaps if the trees at the end of the runway were lower or he had more time to accelerate, they might have gotten out of it.
However, the statement they blamed someone who was blameless is outright wrong. The pilot did make a mistake.
A350
Maybe we like Boeing aircraft better because Boeing assumes we know how to fly, and gives less authority to an onboard silicon chip than airbus.
Maybe we dislike France, too. It makes for a nice combination.
There may have been changes to the flight control software...but had the pilot made the pass at 150', the accident wouldn't have occurred. I am not debating the Boeing vs. Airbus thing as I think they both make fine airplanes and my personal preference has nothing to do with the thread at hand......
Pilots make mistakes....the manufacturers are tasked with designing airplanes that are easy to fly and hard to wreck.
A350
Maybe we like Boeing aircraft better because Boeing assumes we know how to fly, and gives less authority to an onboard silicon chip than airbus.
Maybe we dislike France, too. It makes for a nice combination.