Leaderboard

Hey, I know I'm just a stupid single seat guy and all, and I bet you could accuse me of doing that weird "hand flying" thing more than what's "normal" in a big airplane... BUT At what fucking point do you just tell the AP to fuck off and hand fly your airplane? I'm serious.

The gotcha here is that YOU are the one that set the autopilot and computer. If you set it up wrong, then it will do whatever you set regardless of your intent. In this case, you must handfly the aircraft until you put it in the right spot. Let there be no doubt though, the FD does exactly what you told it to do and the computer does not go out to lunch. You simply programed it wrong. Everytime the aircraft does something I don't expect, I retrace my steps from 30 sec to 5 hours ago and I always find what I did wrong in the first place. So, in the end, autopilot or handfly, you are the boss. Make sure the jet does what you want it to do, and if it does not, correct it in a timely manner.

Mine was the gate guard at Moody AFB after looking at my military ID with the rank of 'cadet' and not knowing what the hell it meant. Pretty special memory...

blonde puppet's kinda hot

If the Donger went to war over this, then at least the Obama admin. could accurately claim it was a video that pissed them off.

This is so far down the list of things you have to worry about I'm not sure what to say. I can't believe they have a waiver for it... Rinsing is key here. But seriously this. You're not the only one, I sat in the HAWC for 3 hours last year too after our secretary literally have me my notice as I was walking out of the bathroom. Here's how you fix it: If you know you're going to have to piss (day 2 at OTS), just keep a reserve in the AM and start chugging. Then, for the rest of your career, just deal with it every year or so when you get flagged. It's not a big deal, just an annoyance. You're not going to have to piss in front of a dude at every base you show up to. The AF is not like MEPs. Posted from the NEW Baseops.net App!

Not specific to the SFO 777… I don’t think a lack of hand-flying skills is entirely the problem. Rather, it’s a lack of SA on where a pilot should be on the automation to hand-flying spectrum. As a T-1 instructor, I was often the first IP to teach students how to use the autopilot system. At first, the system isn’t intuitive and almost without fail, they would end up fixating on getting the damn flight director to do what they wanted it to when hand-flying and looking outside would’ve been more appropriate. Later, when they could use it right, a simple misplaced button push or unexpected value spun in would again cause automation fixation. Often, they wouldn’t even realize they were so fixated. Hell, I can remember a few times I fixated on it in the C-17 and T-1. I doubt any pilot with an automation system has never unknowingly fixated on it. Sometimes automation is appropriate, sometimes hand-flying is appropriate. Knowing how to use each is relatively simple to learn; it’s knowing WHEN to use each that’s the hard part. That said, obviously a baseline knowledge of how to fly through the entire spectrum of automation/hand-flying is fundamental here, and sounds like it was a contributing factor to the specific 777 situation.

Point taken about hand flying skills being necessary. You're preaching to the choir here. However, the autothrottles and autopilot are two separate systems here. While the autopilot was clicked off, the autothrottles were left on with approach speed set in the window (Not a good practice IMO, but fairly common nonetheless). The intuitive assumption would be that the autothrottles would maintain the speed set in the window. That's what the manual would also lead you to believe. It was an eye opener to me at least when it was demonstrated in the sim that this is not the case. Ram, to answer your question, it is a bit shocking how many people will let themselves get pulled in by the automation black hole. I'm talking senior captains here attempting to unfuck the autopilot on short final because that is what the last 30 years of training has emphasized. Clearly we have a problem with over-reliance on the automation, and it extends well beyond just the Asian carriers. The truth is that the automation has gotten so capable and complex that it brings it's own set of proficiency problems with it. I will admit it can be extremely difficult to maintain proficiency in both hand flying and working the automation--especially in an international widebody operation where you may only get a landing a month. You could make the argument that the hand flying thing trumps the automation, but the truth is there are situations that absolutely call for you to be good with the automation (can't hand fly a Cat III). This is why I'm extremely grateful to be able to beat up the pattern in my 60 year old, not-very-automated airplane at my reserve unit a couple times a month.

My first salute was from my dad, a retired Army CW3. He said it was one of the proudest moments of his life. He carried that silver dollar in his wallet until the day he died. He died in November, and I gave the eulogy. At the end, I returned the honor, giving him his final salute. One of the hardest days of my life.

I wouldn't worry about those small issues too much. On TD1 just let your FLT/CC know first thing that you had a few issues/questions regarding your service coat and they will be more than glad to help you out