ChasenSFO
hen teaser
http://www.usatoday.com/story/trave...sb-san-francisco-boeing-autothrottle/6574165/
Very interesting read. Two things that stick out to me:Asiana Airlines acknowledged for the first time that the "probable cause" of the fatal crash in San Francisco last July was its pilot flying too slow, according to documents federal investigators released today.
However, the airline also said "inconsistencies" in the Boeing 777-200ER's autothrottle contributed to the crash. The airline's positions submitted earlier this month were part of hundreds of pages of documents the National Transportation Safety Board will consider while investigating the crash that killed three passengers and injured more than 200.
When I was working as CS at Air New Zealand back in the day, I asked a 777 crew what the FLCH button did with the autopilot. All 3 F/Os looked puzzled as if they were searching for an answer, then they laughed and asked the C/A if he knew. The C/A gave me an explanation and said they didn't use it much. I thought it was interesting that they didn't understand it's function well enough to explain it.In the latest documents, Asiana said the plane's autopilot changed "for an unknown reason" as the plane was about 1,600 feet off the ground approaching the runway. The autopilot changed from so-called "pitch" mode to "flight-level change" mode, which commanded the plane to climb back to 3,000 feet as if it had missed its targeted approach, and raised its speed and height.
In interviews after the accident, none of the three pilots in the cockpit recalled the flying pilot "or anyone else pressing the (flight-level change) button," according to Asiana.
But in Boeing's filing, the manufacturer said the click of the button being pushed at 1,600 feet can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder.
Yup. While more "just in case" features can't hurt, what it comes down to is pilots need to be able to hand-fly their airplane. Electronics are nice to have, but there's humans up there for a reason. I would not want to anyone I know to be in the back of any plane if the PIC is not comfortable with a visual approach on a perfect sunny day. I guess I shouldn't be shocked that Asiana still thinks Boeing could have done anything more to prevent their pilots from coming in dangerously low and slow, but I sort of am at this point.The FAA had "strongly" encouraged Boeing to enhance its software so that the autothrottle would "wake up" during large changes in air speed, after an FAA test pilot raised the same concern while flying the manufacturer's 787 for certification in 2010.
But Boeing hasn't done so. At the December hearing, Robert Myers, Boeing's chief engineer of flight-deck engineering, said if pilots are surprised by the automation, they are expected to use basic skills and manually fly the plane.
"If the airplane is not doing what they expect it to do, that they can disconnect the automation altogether and fly manually," Myers said.
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