No pilot can fly around the edge of the flight envelope like a computer
(sorry for the bruised egos, but it's true!).
FACT: a study is now available which shows CFIT avoidance data for
"envelope-protected" and conventional aircraft. The difference in recovery
bucket distance is 1,200 ft and time is 5 seconds (same configuration and
parameters - FSF data). Such factors "may" have saved the Cali aircraft.
Think about it!!
At 08:27 26/03/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Why would anyone want to comprise the ability to maintain full and
>complete control of an aircraft? I say that as one who once popped out
>of the clouds in the terminal area just to find a single engine aircraft
>directly in front of me (the maneuver we executed scared all my
>passengers as well as myself, but saved our lives). The bus has reduced
>roll beyond 30 degrees and the crew can only input 67 degrees of bank,
>if I am not mistaken. To quote a Boeing representative at an ATA
>Selected Event Training focus group meeting (said to the face of the
>Airbus rep) "What if you need 70 degrees to miss the mountain?"
>
>The learning curve we experienced in the 60s was similar to the curve
>the military experienced when they took fighter pilots from the 40s and
>put them in the first multiengine jets. The assumption was made that the
>fighter pilots had already learned the lesson you refer to about engine
>spool up times (after all, on swept wing transport category jets you can
>go to idle thrust on approach, pitch up to level flight 100' off the
>deck, and you won't get the stick shaker for 30 - 45 seconds).
>Unfortunately, the fighter types didn't know what it was like to have
>number four quit on takeoff, the resultant yaw from such a large moment
>can really be a tiger for a single engine pilot.
>
>There is no way any engineer can envision every possible abnormal or
>emergency flight permutation, then even attempt to design a flight
>control system to protect the crew from them. Teach me the limitations
>of my airplane and let me experience them in the simulator. Don't design
>an aircraft that does not permit the crew to exercise full and complete
>control.
>
>A B-727 driver
>
>--
>Sincerely,
> Jack Vyhnalek, AQP Program Coordinator
> DHL Airways, Inc.
> (606) 578-8301 ext. 251
>
>