Af447

Kirby Schrader

They're mostly silver
Lifetime Supporter
I am not a pilot...

What hypothetical scenario, even if they had no or faulty airspeed indication, would cause a pilot to want to climb when he knows and acknowledges he is losing altitude extremely fast and is getting stall warnings constantly?

I'm sure we've all been in those trouble shooting scenarios where our mind insists it knows what is happening and ignores other information that shows we're wrong, but all three of them? (OK, the captain got there late apparently, but still...)

Just wondering.... I know we have a lot of pilots out there...

Kirby
 

Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
Kirby,

I am not a pilot, but a bit of an aviation follower and the "wrong action" is not uncommon.

Colgan Flight 3407 which fell almost in my backyard (about 300 yards from my previous business location) was a case of "wrong action" due to a low hours pilot in poor weather. I would assume a senior Air France captain would have some chops and not make such a mistake.

The Colgan story is here Colgan Pilot-Error Finding Prompts Reaction | AVIATION WEEK

Perhaps Mr. Morton or one of our other qualified airmen could comment?
 

Kirby Schrader

They're mostly silver
Lifetime Supporter
Yes, put me in that category... 'aviation follower'.
And yes, I had read about the Colgan flight a lot.

Something I thought of as I was reading your response...

When a guy with a 'new' Pantera went to the track with us many years ago, he asked me, 'What is the one thing I should remember when I go out there on the track with this car?'

He had apparently been on a track before with other cars... all front engine.

I told him, whatever you do when you go into a corner and you thing you've over cooked it and you're too hot, don't lift off the throttle completely. Keep it where it is and try to drive through. Sometimes, even more throttle helps, but I didn't want to confuse him. In any case, if you do lift off completely, you'll spin. It's a mid-engined car.

He said he understood and would remember that.

Yet he did just that and spun the car right in front of me and as I drove by, he waved sheepishly. So yeah... even though he knew he shouldn't lift, his mind told him he should lift and he still did it. But I wrote that off to inexperience. First time, etc.
And, of course, he had a split second to react.

Three minutes of free fall is quite a long time, in my opinion, to try and analyze what's happening, I would think. But then.... they had a lot of alarms and things going on... and we still don't know the whole story. Too early, etc. etc.. Or so they are saying.

Thanks,
Kirby
 

David Morton

Lifetime Supporter
I think at the moment it is quite difficult to make any conclusions with respect to the Air France flight.
I made a complaint to LBC (London Broadcasting Corporation) today about unnecessaraliy sensationalist news reporting this afternoon. They repeatedly kept saying the Pilot was not in the Cockpit when the problem occurred which was a hideous distortion and totally untrue. I told them that all three pliots would have the aeroplane type in Part 1 of their licence, which in laymans terms means they are each qualified to fly the aeroplane 'in command'. Each pilot would be required to have approximately three hours 'bunk rest' (the aeroplane cockpit has a seperate compartment with two bunks) to allow them to fly such a long range trip as Rio to Paris so the Captain (usually he is the captain as a result of seniority and not necessarily skill levels) has decided to take the first rest period. The other two guys will sequentially have their rest later and who ever is the Ph(pilot handling) usually (in BA ) has the last rest period and is back on the plot at least one hour before landing. Thats how we always did it. But to say the pilot was not in the cockpit is a ridiculous and scurrilous piece of newscasting.
Sorry - this does not answer the question.
 
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Jim Craik

Lifetime Supporter
What David says is absolutly true, all three are fully qualified pilots.

Most all news sources are leading with................"pilot not in cockpit". While it may be true that the Captain was not in the cockpit, there were two qualified pilots in the seats!

I'm sure this is partly because it sensationalizes the situation and grabs readers attention and partly because at this point in the investigation its the only concrete info that has been given out.
 
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