Originally Posted by forgot to bid

I'll give you another incident worth listening and reading about and its AirAsia 8501, a 320 that crashed killing all 160 or so people on board.

Big picture, best I recall, reoccurring ECAM on the aircraft for weeks because the RTLU 1 needed replacement because the circuit board was bent, but it would reset for a while. The ground procedure was both FACs OFF then back on, but in flight its cycle one at a time. For a reason.

On this flight it happened 3 times in a row and they ran the ECAM procedure properly. On the 4th one the captain decided to take it to a higher level. He'd pull the circuit breakers. But remember pulling CBs does not mean the system resets, you still have to cycle the pb.

So what happens when you have both FACs turned off in flight? Watch the FDR youtube below and note the AP, ATHR, rudder, normal law to alternate, etc.

Then watch how the low time startled FO handles it with the stick. Itll make you scream push.

The captain was from Indonesia and FO was french and speaking english to each other the high time captain kept saying pull down pull down, which he was trying to stay push the nose down. But he didnt override either.

The bummer is there is nothing wrong with the airplane. A RTLU 1 fault is nothing. Flying without both FACs is fine. The FO just pulled straight back and held it from 38,000 to the water.

Here is a podcast on it:
http://a320podcast.co.uk/podcasts/tap004-airasia-accident

Here is the FDR on it:
https://youtu.be/nD4pmT3Urxk

Originally Posted by saturn

Before we go pilotless, Thales and the A350 need to crack the daunting problem of “how will the AP start a descent at TOD without a a human pushing managed descent?”

Originally Posted by cynicalaviator

On a slightly related note, I just learned that the Falcon 7X initializes an emergency descent on its own (as long as above FL300 and low cabin pressure is sensed). It then brings the airplane down to 15000 feet (IIRC) at a speed near VMO/MMO and slows down to 250 when at 15k. It also does a lateral offset.
It will also recover from an Upset on its own.

Ok... I am going back to my 1988 A320...

Originally Posted by Delta2heavy

The A220 and A350 later models also do this

Originally Posted by cynicalaviator

Somebody can confirm but I think pilots still have to initiate the maneuver. at least on the A350.

And I have never read anything about automatic upset recovery either.

Originally Posted by cynicalaviator

Somebody can confirm but I think pilots still have to initiate the maneuver. at least on the A350.

Originally Posted by FL370esq

All "auto-magic" on the last few ships delivered. Will also fly a TCAS RA for you if the AP is on. 🤔