Comment by hef19898
14 years ago
But you know that nowadays even Boeing is using fly-by-wire? So the only difference is the input device which more a question of convenience or personal preferances. basically it all comes down to training, experience and system knowledge. The make of your aircraft is secondary.
by the way, the A330 has a pretty good safety record. We shouldn't judge one approach based on one single incident no matter how severe.
And even it came ultimately down to a pilot error, in order to make plane crash it takes a whole chain of events. In AF447's case the pilots reaction was the last straw, yoke or side stick.
Forget the fly-by-wire, the crucial difference here is that the input devices on the Boeing craft move together. If the AF447 crew had this feedback the accident most likely would not have happened.
Hard to tell afterwards. A botched-up situatation is just that, botched-up. During the AF447 accident so much things went wrong that's almost impossible to single out one that could have prevented it.
Being in aerospace, I slowly get fed up by all this "My airplane is better than yours and that would have happened if yours had what mine has" discussions. I know it is kind of OT right now and that it's HN here and not a pilots forum but I consider it just childish. It's the final report of the authorities that counts, nothing else.
Enough said on AF447, I think the 787 is one pretty plane. What I'm cusious to see is whos bet is right, Boeings' on more point to point flights or Airbus' on the more traditional hub-spoke structure. Just hope Boeing is getting the Dreamliner industrialized and built with less pain than Airbus had on the A380. It slowly becomes a shame how much problems aerospace companies have with that in the last decade.
As a controls and human-factors engineer, I think the subject is highly relevant and very interesting.
There is a large and distinct difference in the flight control mechanism of these two airplanes. It's been discussed over and over, and the transcript of the voice recorder and control logs show there there was a distinct discrepancy happening in the cockpit while the plane was going down:
"As the plane approaches 10,000 feet, Robert tries to take back the controls, and pushes forward on the stick, but the plane is in "dual input" mode, and so the system averages his inputs with those of Bonin, who continues to pull back. The nose remains high." [1]
So, being in aerospace, is this subject annoying or something that is normally not discussed?
[1] http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/crashes/...
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