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Opinion: Why go-arounds may need simplifying post-EK521
While the investigation into the Emirates Boeing 777 accident at Dubai is still active, the preliminary findings have already strongly signalled that one of these three critical parameters, thrust, was overlooked. (www.flightglobal.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Simple fix for Asiana and this one (Emirates). You rarely need two hands on the yoke. One hand on the yoke, one hand on the throttles until you are established in a long-term power position (i.e. Take-off, go-around or climb thrust). Whether you are using auto-throttle or not, you need to anticipate that the throttles are going to move if the yoke moves, if they don't, you need to make them. That is what makes Boeing better than Airbus, you can see what the autopilot & autothrottle or other pilot is doing.
I think go-arounds need to practiced more. One incident from several years ago sticks out. F/O was flying, still kinda new (B-757). Severe clear day at KLAS, runway 25L. Our company flight was ahead, and were taking their own sweet time clearing the runway....used ALL of it, in fact. I'm seeing this, and anticipating that the Tower was going to send us around. MY mistake was thinking the F/O understood it too....so I just ran thru, out loud, our procedure...."TOGA, flaps 15, Positive rate, Gear Up, check missed approach altitude". The F/O froze when Tower said "Go around". So NOW I'm the Flight Instructor coaching her thru it....and talking to ATC. AND? After we were well clear, and getting vectors to orbit and land on 19L...I casually mentioned that the A/P was available...the death grip on the control wheel relaxed, then.....well, it was a good landing. She needed a little coaxing and re-inforcement for confidence.....
Same thing at same place happen to me in a B737-800. Only differences is that it was raining with a ceiling around 800 feet. Copilot was flying. Areo Mexico was ahead of us. From previous experience I new Aero Mexico would take up the entire runway. By mistake was not transmitting that thought to my First Officer. So when the Go Around came he was not ready. I talked him through it and it went smoothly.
I think its also the culture we live in today that is so adverse to laying blame, responsibility on the "person". If there is even 1 percent cause not directly associated with individual, then direct the blame on the the object, or system or whatever else isn't the human being. i.e. don't blame the person blame the gun.....
scares me that so much is automated... false sense of security prevails.. too many old "fly the airplane" pilots retiring...
I think the reality today is who and what is controlling the aircraft and what is in place to identify quickly, the controlling entity. " We accept a visual approach, turn off the autopilot, and disengage the autothrottles but are we aware as pilots of what we just did? " KSFO, perfect example, hand fly the approach but assume the autothrust is still engaged, plane gets slow the pilot pulls back to shallow out the descent and waits for the thrust to kick in and it dosen't.....bang. OMDB, Crew for whatever reason, gets an aural warning just as the aircraft goes below 50, thrust at idle, initiates a go around by selectimg TOGA, raises the nose to go around attitude, recognizes a slight climb as positive rate, raises the gear (if the gear was ever down) and waits for spool up on the big turbines, they don't spool as fast as the crew would like so they push up the thrust levers but the aircraft settles back down, (speculation,of course) but what we need are flight crews that are fully competent in not only programming, hand flying, situational awareness but in full comprehension of all the systems and their interaction! Admittedly, the hardest missed approach is below 50' as the engines are brought to idle and the aircraft is in the preflare however, it will fly quite well with the gear hanging and the flaps at landing but wilth insufficient thrust, not so much. Sorry for the long dissertation.