Newsgroups: sci.aeronautics.airliners Path: news From: philip@rainbow.mentorg.com (Philip Peake) Subject: Re: Airbus safety (was Re: TWAs Status) X-Submission-Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 18:11:36 GMT References: <1992Nov25.191925.27991@news.mentorg.com> Message-ID: Approved: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Followup-To: Organization: Mentor Graphics Sender: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM X-Submission-Message-Id: <1992Dec11.181136.2160@news.mentorg.com> Date: 11 Dec 92 17:42:32 PST In article , rdd@cactus.org (Robert Dorsett) writes: |> |> >If all new pilots were taught nothing but the side stick, |> >how long would the old arangementy last - and if the old arangement |> |> Why should pilots be taught nothing but a unique, *proprietary* side-stick |> design that no pilot had any experience with before four years ago, and which |> is only one of a variety of other possible designs? You are avoiding the question - read it again, the operative word is "if". I really don't think that a side-stick qualifies as "*proprietary*" does it ? Does Airbus hold patents on some aspect of it ? (I don't know the answer to this one - but if that IS true, then the result would be proprietary, and would deserve to fail). Changing the subject slightly, the world's safest aircraft (Concorde) uses technology which was new, and for a time unacceptable to various licensing authorities - it didn't have a MECHANICAL link between the stick and the control surfaces - only hydraulic. There was *much* concern over this, and lots of reaction from the pilots and safety mob - they almost won, and the Concorde almost had to be produced with a mechanical linkage, which no FULL CREW would be able to budge one mm if they all tried together - in fact, the linkages would probably have failed, before it would have been possible to move a control surface, when moving at full speed. As I said, it has proved to be the worlds' safest aircraft. Presumably, had a few airlines other than BA and Air France used them, someone would have flown one or two of them into the ground, and we would be arguing (or would have been arguing) about the safety of aircraft with no mechanical backup systems. Technology changes, old interfaces eventually HAVE to give way as they begin to fit less and less well with the new technologies. I don't seem to have noticed any raving about the TGV, the latest versions of which achieve speeds comparable to that of aircraft, and use a side-stick ... (yes, I know, French again ...) There is MUCH more prior art in train design, and they can write off considerably more people than even a fully loaded 747/400 if something goes drastically wrong. Philip