Quote:
Originally Posted by nathantw
You think that uncontrollable banking will not have an effect to bring down an airplane. Good thing you're not a pilot. Here's a piloting tip, if you can't move the rudder, your elevators, and your airlons, you're more than likely going to crash.
Yes, they couldn't reproduce the problem with a unit they purchased because they weren't defective. All it takes is one defective unit to cause a problem, or do you think everything off the shelf is perfect? The truth is that there were problems with electronics. The truth is that the pilots of the planes reported that it went into uncontrolled banking. The truth is that a plane will crash if it can't come out of an uncontrolled bank if not corrected.
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Actually, I am a highly experienced pilot, with Instrument and High Performance ratings, in addition to ratings in sailplanes, helicopters, ultralights and even hang gliders. I think I know very well what I am talking about.
Granted your "piloting tip" is no doubt true, but it is not what was described in either of the reports you posted. Here is a fact: autopilots, when they misbehave (and they do ALL THE TIME, by the way) can easily be disabled or even overpowered by the pilot. I have had MANY occasions where I enabled the autopilot and it either refused to engage or started doing something unexpected. That is not an emergency, just an annoyance.
Now, if the pilot is in IMC (instrument conditions, ie, can't see out the windshield), this is inconvenient, but not an emergency. It just means the landing will be done by hand (which likely means the copilot will get some stick time), rather than by computer.
Pilots, during critical maneuvers like landing, are monitoring and cross checking systems constantly. A misbehaving autopilot will be instantly detected and shut down. A misbehaving electronic navigational aid (like the GPS or ILS) will be quickly detected, and if on an instrument approach, the pilot will immediately execute a missed approach procedure, go around, and request a different landing procedure not requiring the failed instruments.
All the electronic systems in a modern aircraft are "backed up" by non-electronic systems (we call them "steam gauges") that are driven by dynamic air pressure and/or simple electric motors. If the electronics fail completely, there are sufficient instruments to provide a pilot with enough information to land the plane.
The control surfaces (elevator, rudder, ailerons) are controlled with hydraulics in commercial aircraft, and by other mechanical means in smaller craft. A PS3 or Kindle is not going to take such systems out.
Finally, the pilots did not report "uncontrollable" banking. They reported that the autopilot improperly "initiated a shallow banked turn" (also known as an "uncommanded" bank) in one case (this is easily corrected by the pilot, who is constantly monitoring the autopilot), and in the other case, the autopilot disengaged or refused to engage.
As I stated before, this kind of stuff happens all the time, for many many reasons. Neither of the above cases would rise above the level of annoyance to a pilot, but would be diligently reported on landing, as *all* observed equipment problems are required to be "squawked".