Airline Pilot Central Forums - Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by PilotFrog (Post 1441117)

I don't think the nicalau award will be ignored in the AA/UsAir Merger.

I agree. I think upon the joint agreement with AA that nicolau will be implemented. They got themselves an 8 year delay... I figured they would have been smacked down long ago but kept pushing it back.

Quote:

Originally Posted by newKnow (Post 1441031)

The NTSB just said that that the the throttles were at idle and they were slow, though.

I wonder if the flying pilot was "out of it" in some way? :confused:

Were their rest seats in business class?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 80ktsClamp (Post 1441071)

I've found it to be very much a pilot's airline. Hand flying with all the magic off has been encouraged and praised in my experience. Heck, my OE captain on the 320 hand flew plus AT off below 10,000 on almost every approach. I'm usually too lazy for that. :)

Agreed 100% 80, I think as a professional pilot we should take every opportunity we can to hone our skills and I've always found it is encouraged in low threat situations.

Just saw this blurb in a NBC article.

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A spokesperson for Asiana Airlines told Reuters that Xxx Xxxx-xxxx, the pilot in charge of landing the plane, was in training and it was the first time he was attempting to fly into San Francisco while manning the Boeing 777. The airline said Xxxx-xxxx had flown different planes to that airport and was also being assisted by a more experienced pilot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by finis72 (Post 1441126)

Agreed 100% 80, I think as a professional pilot we should take every opportunity we can to hone our skills and I've always found it is encouraged in low threat situations.

Absolutely! A highly proficient pilot at hand flying the airplane can much better manage the aircraft automation to the optimum as well as handle abnormalities in a more efficient manner.

I'm very thankful for how DL encourages being a pilot. We could have a standards department like at US that frowns upon ever turning off the AT as well as requires the AP to be on for RNAV DPs.

I'll never forget on my first takeoff in the MD-88... I selected the AP on after cleanup. The LCP looked over at me and said "I would highly encourage you to handfly up to FL180... most pilots here do." Similar on the approach... "When you turn off the AP, turn off the AT- be a pilot and fly the airplane." I've had similar experience in other fleets. We really do have the top of the heap when it comes to flight standards.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl Spackler (Post 1441105)

Maybe the 777 guys can help me out here, but I wonder if it wasn't something as simple as automation confusion?

Consider that we know the GS was out of service and that ATC seems to always keep you high on those visual approaches to the 28's. It's logical they would have been descending in FLCH (airspeed controlled by pitch and autothrottles kept at idle). If TDZ elevation was set in the altitude window while descending in FLCH, and there was no active glide slope for them to capture, what if they simply disconnected the autopilot and flew visually once they captured a visual glide path. They may have kept the autothrottles engaged thinking it would be there to hold the target approach speed for them...but autothrottles would have stayed at idle due to FLCH mode. If everyone assumed the autothrottles would do their job, and nobody was watching airspeed, that's one explanation as to how an experienced crew could have gotten so slow.

Just a thought...and could well be wrong since I don't know the 777 modes.

Carl

Carl, that is a possibility. I'm still a little perplexed as to how they avoided all the built in protections and got that low and slow with little concern from the crew. Does anybody know if Asiana requires all pilots in a 4 man crew to be in the cockpit for landing ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Bauer (Post 1441043)

Until all info (orange box, ect) are available I wont jump on the pilot error band wagon (even though It may well turn out being pilot error...or sleepy/fatigue pilot error). Any idea if Asiana uses the accelerated Ab Initio style of training where they turn pilots loose on a 777 with some sim time and a handful of hours in a Bonanza?

I hope it's not pilot error, because in this case, it would be more like pilots error. With a 10 hour flight, there were probably 3, maybe 4 pilots up there for landing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 80ktsClamp (Post 1441052)

I'm guessing autothrottle wake-up either occurred too late if they did get the shaker. Or is there a way to override it (why they would want to I don't know)?

I can see now where people on board got the idea that the plane cartwheeled... looked like they almost flipped over and spun around about 300 degrees. It's amazing seeing the aft pressure bulkhead peeled like an orange.

I bet we're going to see even more of a push for "being a pilot" after this one...not a bad thing.

I'm going to stop reading about it. Just saw an article in the USA Today that said that determining the cause of the crash could take years. First reaction: Why? They have video of the crash, the black/orange boxes are intact, and the pilots are alive.

.....I'm already distracted. Duck Dynasty is on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 1441084)

Sioux City?

Thanks, ftb. Passengers got hit by an emergency vehicle in Sioux City?

Anyone watch Naked and Afraid on Discovery? Pretty cool concept/show. I'd post pictures but they'd get deleted by admin. :eek: