Technology aids are a comfort
Sir - I am perplexed as to the state of flight in, which Capt. Bill Pike achieves "full back stick" on his Boeing (Flight International, Letters, 1-7 November, P64).
Perhaps the captain is an exponent of the "snatch" rotation technique on take-off, with the attendant risks associated with a combination of low airspeed, high alpha and high drag. Alternatively, he may be one of the "only way to land is full-stall, stick right back" school. I found this to work with tail-draggers, including the Douglas DC-3, but I have yet to try it on a jet transport.
The Airbus A320 and its brethren, will always allow the application of full stick and the direct control of alpha at high angles of attack, but the philosophies inherent in the software will not allow the inferior pilot to place the aircraft in attitudes, avoided by better pilots and from which superior skills may be needed for recovery. These philosophies are, no doubt, inherent in the latest Boeings and may have prevented some of the accidents discussed on P11 ("Safety spotlight shifts on to loss of control").
GEORGE BACZKOWSKI
Billingshurst, Sussex, UK
...Sir - Capt. Pike's letter is most revealing. I, for one, hope that I shall not be in his Boeing when he pulls the stick fully back, hoping to achieve a desired angle of attack. I would rather be in an Airbus in that situation -which gets his message, but gives him the maximum safe angle, not a stall.
As a passenger, I am quite happy for technology to lend a hand under extreme conditions.
DAVID STEVENS
Woking, Surrey, UK
Source: Flight International
