Pilot Training

More Not Less

We know what happened to the Brazilian ATR aircraft that killed 61 people. The plane was in a flat spin. What we don't know is why it happened.  

Back in the 1979-80, when I was just learning to fly, the FAA had stopped requiring spin training. My instructor said that we only had to learn how to recover from a stall. I asked him if we could still do it? He was pleased to comply. 

I  cut the power as I pulled the nose up and the plane stalled. He then he jammed in the rudder and we spun. Did the crew of this ATR enter a stall and as one wing dropped a pilot reacted by jamming in a rudder? Did they put their aircraft into a spin? Was ice involved? Was the problem the T-tail? There are many variables and rarely, if ever, its just one thing that causes a plane to crash.

We will know that answer when the they analyze the data recently received.  

This is not the fist time an ATR plane crashed.  In October of 1994, American Eagle, Fight 4184, was subject to freezing rain during a holding pattern, ice built up on the wings, and during descent the plane rolled. The autopilot disengaged and the plane crashed into a filed in Indiana, killing all 68 people on board.

T-tail aircraft are a problem with ice. Was the plane heavily loaded aft? I wonder when the cost of life will out weigh the profits of operating this aircraft. 

I also wonder if it was possible for them to get out of this spin once they entered. Or would this plane be unrecoverable. I posed that question to a friend and he sent me an interesting video. Beechcraft is also a twin engine T-tail aircraft, and they did spin testing. Mine spin training was in a Cessna 172.

Pilots have you received Spin Training?

While airlines and the FAA think reduced training is okay because of automation, this ideology might just be breeding an industry of pilots who lack aerodynamical skills. I am not making that claim against these pilots, I'm just curious if this is an overall problem. As my doctoral research identified, the more pilots train their performance decreases, of which is basis for Normalization of Deviance, a Threat to Aviation Safety. 

Twin Spin Testing Beechcraft Twin Video

Dr. Karlene Petitt

PhD. MBA. MHS.
A350, B777, A330, B747-400, B747-200, B767, B757, B737, B727