Flight attendant caught wayward pilots unaware

**max-ua** · 12-16-2009, 10:12 PM

Another article on a NW flight that overflew its destination.. Your thoughts?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091217/...ight_overflown

**Chairborne** · 12-16-2009, 10:47 PM

I read that. This is turning out to be a real media circus from all angles. It's too bad that most of the rhetoric that went on between the crew sounds like the average trailer-park verbal smackdown. But if two Indian pilots can come to fisticuffs in midair, why can't a similar thing like that happen here? And if the NW pilots try to minimise their incident by calling the India incident into play, then that surely confirms their immaturity, even in light of the pilots now blaming ATC for some of the matter.

**ytzpilot** · 12-16-2009, 11:49 PM

I read it as well (Sort of)... I will focus on it more tomorrow as right now I am foggy in the head from a big day at work.

I like digesting this stuff and it is better off with my morning coffee

**Raptor22** · 12-17-2009, 12:43 AM

max-ua,

Sure makes you think twice about flying doesn't it?

**pedmond** · 12-17-2009, 11:29 AM

Yeah i read this in airliner world. I thought they were on miniclip playing games or something. They could have been playing FSX!!

**Chairborne** · 12-17-2009, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by pedmond

Yeah i read this in airliner world. I thought they were on miniclip playing games or something. They could have been playing FSX!!

A scary thought on an A320--a plane 'flown by a computer'--when you consider this...

**pedmond** · 12-17-2009, 01:15 PM

Was there anyone on board?!??

**Chairborne** · 12-17-2009, 01:29 PM

130 passengers and 6 crew were on board, 3 passengers perished in the crash of Air France Flight 296, June 26, 1988. The flight was an exhibit of a freshly-delivered Air France A320 at an airshow, demonstrating the fly-by-wire capabilities of the type to spectators. The exact cause is still somewhat unclear, although many involved are blaming the autopilot for failing to yield to the PIC's overrides. This was the first-ever crash of an A320.

***loki*** · 12-17-2009, 02:09 PM

And the pilots may not have been fully trained on how to use the new aircraft, or fell back to procedures for more conventional aircraft in the heat of the moment. A computer is only as good as its operator. If the operator doesn't fully understand or use it correctly, it won't do what you think it should (though it will do what you told it to).

**sandgate** · 12-17-2009, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by Chairborne

A scary thought on an A320--a plane 'flown by a computer'--when you consider this...

Most new aircraft now are fly-by-wire (controlled by computers) B777, B787 included. Probably a lot more now. Even the L1011 was way in advance of the DC10 when it was built in early seventies - it had computers monitoring the actions of the pilots and warning of unsafe events, but without the ability to intervene.

There is no mystery as to why the A320 crashed into the trees - the crew configured the aircraft for landing during a low pass at an air display and that is exactly what it did. Although they realised their mistake there was not enough time for the engines to spool back up.

John