Quote:
Originally Posted by glenluceskies
I do not believe any major commerical passenger airline is more risky than the other.
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In actuality, although I am against fly by wire, I do realise that they are showing themselves to be more reliable, statistically speaking, and far more economical. This is why airlines are so attracted to them. Also, they should be less labor intensive for the flight crew (maybe there is a trade-off here tho). My only gripe is that when something does go wrong, that fly by wire is not as intuitively friendly as classical systems.
Also, until a pilot or flight engineer actually gets into the position of being a true test pilot, he/she must obey specific flight envelopes and procedures which best satisfy the safest possible mode of flight in a commercial environment. Test flight operations for post maintenance must obey specific flight envelopes and procedures too, but differ in that the envelope must be tested to ensure that the vehicle does actually meet the requirements. This means pushing a systems, one by one, to their required parameters and in some circumstances, further so as to determine its adherence to the manufacturer's specifications. Therefore a pilot who is carrying passengers is safe in the knowledge that if everything has been done correctly, he/she is at the controls of a vehicle that can operate within operational envelopes without risk of failure/catastrophy. (an example of "further" can be seen in a 'Topping Check', where altitude is gained in order to ensure that an engine compressor air is bleed to prevent compressor surge or stall...this is a common helicopter test...I've done this a hundred times, a few times with the loss of an engine. No big deal if you're prepared for it. Although we did have to autorotate onto a dirt car park of a hill-top look-out once...that was pretty cool).
Now a test pilot who is conducting true 'test flying', is something completely different. Usually these pilots and engineers test manufacurer accuracies in the aircraft type and/or modifications. I call these pilots and flight engineers the 'Scientists of the Air', because they are. The aircraft is essentially an apparatus which must be measured in all its capacities and how one parameter defines another parameter. Mostly this is only to confirm earlier static testing or engineering calculations. And still, they must obey specific flight envelopes and procedures while doing so...everything is thought about and calculated in advance...now-a-days, it is simulated time and time again before confirming in an operational aircraft, but most general aviation aircraft out there don't have simulators, so they must be tested the old way; fly it.
Until air crew can say that they have done test flight operations, then they are essentially flying a 'known' and 'tested' vehicle. There's nothing magical about it, its just a different way of operating the same machine...and fly by wire does add to the complexity, not the contrary, in that it places a wall between the operator and what is physically happening to the machine.
Cheers
Mark