Better Training/Techniques Needed for Unusual Attitude Recovery

Air Safety Week, August 16, 1999

It all happens in a single, fluid motion. Recovery is much quicker than rolling from a 90 degrees bank through some 270 degrees additional roll, completing a full circle to a wings-level attitude. This maneuver can involve a significant loss of altitude.

Joe Waltz, an MD-80 captain with Continental Airlines [CAL] who helped develop and works teaching the techniques with Wylie, explained the reason for this kind of upset recovery training. In many cases, safety efforts focus on the earliest link in the chain of events leading to an accident. "Our approach is at the last moment when you can retrieve the situation," he said.

The mantra of push-power-rudder-roll cannot be accurately or fully replicated in a simulator, where the programmed maneuvering envelope is more restricted than what can (and will) occur in many real-world upsets. Yet training all pilots in actual aircraft in the techniques could involve prohibitive expense. Nevertheless, a number of actions can be taken that do not involve prohibitive costs, or any costs at all. Simply keeping one's feet nearer the rudders, not resting them on the instrument panel, would mark a significant step, leaving aircrews better positioned to "step on the sky" should an upset occur. >> Wylie, 800/544-2237; Waltz, 281/444-7189 <<

Comparative Recoveries B757 simulator
Situation               Technique                Altitude Loss
90 degrees  bank:       Recover w/o rudder       - 600 ft.
90 degrees  bank:       Return w/ rudder         - 300 ft.
90 degrees  left roll   Roll through             - 2,600 ft.
90 degrees  left roll   Return ("step on sky")   - 300 ft.

Substituting Action for Reaction

Below, a menu of correctives that could be taken that would reduce the hazard posed by in-flight upsets:

At no cost

* Every chief pilot and fleet manager should declare:

During cruise, aircrew to be strapped in snug, with at least one person's feet within reach of the rudder.

During approach and landing, aircrew strapped in tight, with the feet of the pilot flying resting lightly on the rudders. The feet of the pilot monitoring are within reach of the rudders.

* Incorporate P2R2 mantra (push-power-rudder-roll) with "step on the sky" immediate action in ground training for unusual attitude recovery.

* Include an operating flight strength diagram in aircraft flight manuals, particularly in the "performance limitations" section, so that aircrews better understand the G loadings that result from full deflection of the elevator at a given airspeed.

* Change the definition of maximum maneuvering speed (Va) to include the elevator, not ailerons and rudder, as in:

From: "Va is the highest speed that full aileron or rudder can be applied without overstressing the aircraft"

To: "Va is the highest speed that the full elevator can be applied without overstressing the aircraft."

* Aircrews should keep their hands on the flap control lever until deployment is complete (asymmetric deployment can lead to an unusual attitude, which can be more quickly countered if the hand of the pilot flying is still on the control).

At modest added cost

* Incorporate unusual attitude aerodynamic techniques and recovery in initial flight training. Roll angles to 110 degrees can be demonstrated in a light trainer.

* Send a cadre of check pilots and simulator instructor pilots through lift vector management and advanced in-flight maneuver/recovery training. Thus exposed, they will be loathe to teach rolling through to recovery, pulling the yoke full aft, losing altitude while increasing AOA, speed and G's that can exceed the structural limits of the airplane.

* Add a real-time G readout in all simulators at the instructor position, so that instructors would be better prepared to advise students when they've pulled the wings off the aircraft.