Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Ward
OMG what a lot of hogwash.
QF has both types, pilots are free (seniority permitting) to choose either way which type they wish to fly, and I can assure you, some are critical of either type when things don't work as advertised.
I have around 11,000 hours on Boeings and just under 1000 on Airbus. To argue either is inherently "unsafe" is nonsense IMHO.
Another *big* fallacy I really need to clear up is: you "can't turn off the computer" (on an Airbus)
Fact of the matter is *you can*
Doing so removes all protections, throws you into a back-up mode with fewer moving surfaces (makes flying the aircraft quite a bit more of a challenge), but you can have a good old one-on-one if the situation warrants it.
The machines haven't taken over....yet  |
First of all Peter, believe it or not I actually support you, as a pilot [doing what you should doing] 100%. Now Airbus (and Boeing too), have made your job a little cushier by reducing work-load, and that may sit well with you, but there's more to this arguement than what a pilot gets exposed to in his/her career. I feel that you should not be utilized in the manner in which modern flying has proceeded, for my reasons, you believe it's fine, for your own reasons. No problem!
You are still communicating inputs to actuators through electrical wires and electronic devices. I prefer torque tubes, cables (wires), butterfly cams, push-pull tubes, REAL PHYSICAL DEVICES WHICH CAN BE MEASURED FOR WEAR AND DETERIATION, ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC DEVICES TEND TO FAIL WITHOUT WARNING. And if you have to have FBW, better that the pilot gets full authority. If you prefer being baby-sat, that's fine by me, but I'd feel a little insulted myself.
There is a reason why pilots are not allowed to write-up what a failure is; it's because pilots really have no way of knowing for sure from the flight deck...that's what maintenance must determine, it's their job, not yours. All you need to do is simply write-up what has fallen outside serviceable parameters and by how much; that is all that you do. It is the engineering cell which determines the unserviceability and the rectification to be taken, not the flight crew. You are talking as if you were reading notes from your classes, but they do not and will not teach you the underlying principles involved in maintenance for good reason. And as an ex engineer I am telling you that there is more to systems than what you see on the flight deck, or the colorful schematics in your manuals or checklist procedures.
I feel like I'm talking to a pilot...you just don't get it do you?? Lift your head out of the manuals, which you are TOLD to believe, for just 5 seconds.
I've spent over 30,000 hours swinging spanners on aircraft, so don't bother throwing that pilot log book rubbish at me (as every pilot does when they want to win an agruement) as if it's a get out of jail free card...coz it ain't. I'm happy to trust my knowledge and experience in how and why aircraft systems and components fail over your log hours any day.
There are literally thousands of things I don't know about flying/piloting aircraft, what you need to recognise is the reciprocal.