Even in a modern jet transport, recovery from unusual attitudes has to be done manually (AA587 crash, Flight International, 20-26 November). Today's average airline pilot's stick and rudder time amounts to just a few minutes every leg. These minutes are spent mostly in straight and level climb or straight and level descent, with the occasional smooth co-ordinated turn.

Instead of practising manual flight during simulator check rides [competency training], the legal requirement for low visibility (CATIII) approaches means even more time with the autopilot engaged. Also during check rides, a person flying manually is frowned upon - and quite rightly so - as, in an abnormal situation such as an engine failure, every resource available should be used and the autopilot is one of them. Because of this, improving or even maintaining a certain level of manual flying ability means additional training. But many in the industry - particularly those who decide where money is spent - like to think that flying an aircraft is like riding a bike. Once the skill is mastered, it is almost impossible to unlearn. To a limited extent, this is true for a small aircraft.

Hand-flying a large jet with its powered controls, lack of feedback and concepts like "relaxed stability" means the integration of sensory input, together with complex cognitive rule-based knowledge. It is not at all like riding a bike. During normal operation this is made deceptively easy by the repetitiveness of the manoeuvres and their limited variability, and by the extensive use of devices like the flight director. However, a situation that leads to an unusual or even extreme attitude - and the ensuing possible disintegration of the aircraft - can progress with a viciousness that is totally unexpected for the pilot who so far has only known the benign side of his aircraft. The only remedy is careful control inputs for which there is not much time and more often than not only one chance. They have to be performed with just the right mixture of analysis and action, and that can only be achieved through thorough repetitive conditioning.

It is wishful thinking to believe that watching a training video and spending an hour in a simulator practising recovery techniques once a year - which is probably more than most pilots get - can prepare a crew for what happens when a modern jet leaves the envelope.

As long as the airline industry continues in its drive to cut back rather than invest in additional training, it is quite unreasonable to expect the average airline pilot to be able to cope with the kind of situation that flight AA587 might have been in.

Robert Schröder

Cologne, Germany

Source: Flight International

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