Pretty good job, with a few technical errors on the part of the writer;

http://www.popularmechanics.co...r-france-447-6611877

Horrifying.....


I am afraid that we will see more of these types of accidents as pilot training shifts from actual stick and rudder flying to systems management.

HOWEVER, and I am not trying to shift the focus from the incompetence that went on but.... AIRBUS has had NUMEROUS issues with the A-330 and pitot tubes icing up. Of course to a competent crew an iced up pitot tube or loss of primary flight instruments is little more than a nuisance. But AIRBUS knew about this problem and hadn't done anything about it.

Now you stick a couple of non flying autopilot monkeys in the front end and introduce this kind of failure and guess what folks? NOW you've got a serious problem.

This is why a guy should spend a solid 3,000 to 5,000 hours flying a real airplane in real weather before they are allowed to jump into the front end of an airliner. They should know how to fly before they get to handle the controls of a big jet full of people.

Ab Intio, Multi Crew Pilots License, and whatever corporate bullshit scheme is in the works to put low time/no time pilots in control of airliners needs to stop. I don't care how much schooling you've had or how much book work or simulator training you've done the one and only type pf training that is valid in aviation is actual no shit flight time in adverse conditions as a the decision maker. Getting 200 hours total time then sitting right seat in a RJ for several years ain't cutting it.

Getting your ass out there in the weather flying checks, freight whatever single pilot in a Navajo or a Merlin or an MU-2 is WAY more relevant and makes a way better pilot than any academic course that can be taught.

With that in mind how do you guys feel about ATP level stall training? You know where a guy gets to the first indication of a stall then pours the power on, pulls back and flies out of it losing less than 100' Alt? I think that stall training is killing people. If I were king every pilot would have to do an advanced aerobatic stall course before they were able to get a commercial license. I'm talking spins, inverted stalls, inverted spins, flat spins upright and inverted, vertical stalls going both straight up and down, high speed stalls, snap rolls ETC ETC. I am sick and tired of reading about these transport category accidents where the guy is fully stalled and pulling back all the way to the ground WTFO!

Stall training killing people? You bet your ass it is. And what is even worse is the total absence of spin training. My good God! A spin ain't no big deal, but most pilots these days have never flown into and out of one. Hell, I used to rent a Great Lakes or a Citabria and just do them for fun. That Great Lakes falls out of the sky like brick. Great fun... And these clowns are killing themselves in stall-spins that are totally preventable. There is no bloody excuse for it. None whatsoever!

quote:

Getting your ass out there in the weather flying checks, freight whatever single pilot in a Navajo or a Merlin or an MU-2 is WAY more relevant and makes a way better pilot than any academic course that can be taught.

Absolutely. Everything I ever learned flying night mail in the winter in Twin Beeches in PA and NY and checks around Florida along the edge of a hurricane and all those damned CB's kept me alive in Africa and Papua New Guinea in Hercs.

I really pity some of these kids coming up. They aren't safe and they don't even know it. It is not their fault, but is sure as hell is gonna be their problem.

I highly recommend any student pilots and inexperienced pilots reading this make the effort and go out and get some basic training in aerobatics. Get upside down in one. Loop it, spin it, chandelle it, do 8's. Snap rolls. Learn just how violent a cross-controlled stall-spin entry is. That will get your attention. That's the one that will kill you in a heartbeat when you're low and slow. Learn what aerodynamics really mean. You will live longer and may even live to finish your career.

Hmm. Spins and full stalls are still part of our basic PPL and are checked annually when you renew your license. Of cource, I am IFR rated (I follow roads) Thank goodnes the instructors insist on being able to fly as being more important than being able to navigate.

Interestingly enough Air Zimbabwe pilots are required to hold and maintian a PPL in a single or twin prop plane. I saw two captains going for check rides to renew their licenses...

maybe flying Air Zimbabwe (when the planes don't get impounded) isn't an unsafe way to travel