AF443 - could it have happened in a boeing?

[JDW]

The theory is that since the joysticks in an airbus arent linked, the captain and the cruise captain couldnt tell that the junior pilot was yanking back during most of the stall. I know nothing of airbuses, who gets control authority when the sticks are moved in different directions?

http://video.foxnews.com/v/161598953900 ... =obnetwork

[sidestick stirrer]

If the sidesticks are both moved at the same time, the computers sum the inputs; if one is full nose-down and the other is commanding full-nose up, then the total of those commands is neutral and nothing will happen.
There is a button on each stick which can be pressed to disable the other sidestick's input. In that case, a green arrow will flash in front of the other pilot with an aural "Priority Left( or right)".
As soon as the other button is pressed, then they have priority, etc.
On the ground, an additional symbol is displayed on the PFD's, called the Iron Cross. It moves around the attitude display to indicate what commands are being generated by the sidesticks and is used during the flight-control check.
I suspect that we will soon see that symbol displayed in flight as well, when near the edges of the envelope, as a result of AF443.
In the dark, the more-experienced F/O was not aware of the inputs being made by the other pilot.

[Eric Janson]

That Fox News Video is sensationalist reporting at its worst. I don't watch Fox News.

To answer the question in the post title - Yes it could have. Any aircraft can be stalled if not flown correctly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Ai ... light_1951

I make my living flying fly-by-wire airbus and the fact that I can't see what inputs the other Pilot is making isn't an issue. I can see what the aircraft is doing by looking at the screens.

I have 10 years experience flying Boeing (3 Types) and 10 years experience flying airbus (3 Types). Overall I prefer the airbus.

[126.7_STFU]

Can you give us some other reasons why you prefer airbus?

[bradley]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technol ... 47-6611877

This is a pretty good article that has been making the rounds.

In this particular accident, in the several minutes between the stall and the impact, one of the pilots held the stick all the way back. The other pilot actually did try to break the stall by pushing the stick forward, but unknown to him, that input was averaged out...had it been a Boeing, it would have been obvious that yoke was all the way back, and he would have corrected and saved the aircraft.

I'm not saying a Boeing can't stall, they can and they have, but this particular accident would not have crashed had it been a Boeing. It was just an unfortunate chain of events and mistakes, which was actually made worse by the technology designed to prevent it.

[Eric Janson]

Can you give us some other reasons why you prefer airbus?

Cockpit is very well designed. Less switches than a conventional aircraft.
Low cockpit noise levels.
Everything you need to fly the aircraft safely can be found on 4 screens (PFD/ND/EWD/SD)
Sidestick and sliding table are much better than a yoke (personal opinion).
Seats are very comfortable (important when you are doing 11hour+ flights)
Common cockpit makes transitioning from one type to another very easy.
Track/Flightpath Angle modes makes it very easy to fly a non precision approach.
"Bird" is great for visual approaches.
"Ground Speed Mini(mum)" avoids low energy situations on approach.
Autopilot is smoother than on the Boeings I've flown.
Nice features on the Flight Management Computer like auto nav aid and ILS tuning. Also auto identification of navaids.
Very good stopping capability on landing if required.
Full control inputs can be given without having to worry about damaging the aircraft (normal law).

Hope that gives you a bit of an idea.