Your Comment "Stalled warning" (Flight International, 24-30 August) is wide of the mark. At least two of the airlines that I have flown for have inserted false stall warnings into simulator checks/practice. It is not the big exercise with drills as your column implies, adding to an already overloaded training programme. Quite simply, it takes about a minute.
A false stall warning, with all its attendant noise and distraction, is given immediately after take-off. Instant action is to check attitude and speed. Fly the aircraft. Deal with noise, etc later.
It is called airmanship and the purpose of the exercise is to ensure airmanship does not falter in the face of distraction. If the stall warning is genuine, the altitude and speed check will confirm it - this check is valid for any aircraft from the smallest single to the largest widebody. Naturally, all aircraft manufacturers will defend their warnings systems against the possibility of false alarms, but training captains have been slipping in the odd distraction caused by malfunctions for years.
M M JENKINS
THETFORD, NORFOLK, UK
Source: Flight International