tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post8013455073477972911..comments2024-03-13T09:47:40.487+00:00Comments on Cockpit Conversation: Not All Malfunctions in a Simulator are SimulatedAviatrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13634111275860140084noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-77890365325342692492010-09-24T14:43:18.220+00:002010-09-24T14:43:18.220+00:00A neat (though expensive) example of the negative ...A neat (though expensive) example of the negative effect of simulator training which I was told about ages ago was a training captain who was sent to Boeing to do the acceptance checks on a new aircraft prior to its delivery flight to his airline.<br /><br />After the test flight went well he decided to exercise the fire handles (just the fuel cut-off stage, not the extinguishers, of course). All four engines ran down as expected. Normally in the simulator that's the end of the exercise and the next job is tidy everything up ready for the next so he did that on the real aircraft. Unfortunately, the effect of putting away the fire handles was to introduce gobs of fuel into the still hot but not turning engine with fairly dire results, including his taking somewhat early retirement.<br /><br />Don't know how distorted that story might have become in repetition or in my memory but it's a relevant point that in the real world there's not such a neat end to situations.Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-87074872924422012582010-09-24T00:23:53.412+00:002010-09-24T00:23:53.412+00:00Oh, I didn't read the avweb article, just link...Oh, I didn't read the avweb article, just linked it for the pretty picture. I didn't realize that it went into that kind of detail. Ah, I see it doesn't really, just flies right up to it then swerves away at the last moment.<br /><br />The article doesn't make clear, but I think from your comment that you're already aware, that <i>all</i> electromagnetic radiation consists of perpendicular oscillating electric and magnetic fields, and both NDB and AM radio antennae are vertical, giving vertical polarization of the resulting electric fields Yes, the loop antenna gives the line of propagation of the while the sense antenna disambiguates the direction of propagation.<br /><br />This paragraph should be a clear logical explanation of how the sense antenna does that, but I don't remember ever having a firm enough grasp on the topic to convey it to others. I'll figure it out and then do a blog on it later. Anyone who wants to help may e-mail me.Aviatrixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13634111275860140084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-8609832518902507582010-09-23T23:41:16.572+00:002010-09-23T23:41:16.572+00:00Er, well, no. I know why you were thinking of VOR...Er, well, no. I know why you were thinking of VORs from my comment, but I was interpreting the "Theory of Operation" paragraph in the avweb link you mention.<br /><br />Given a vertically polarized AM signal, the ADF will find it - so in that sense I was wrong about the signal being special for an NDB.<br /><br />I need to find a EE. Don't really understand this without a little math. In rough terms, the loop antenna gives a +/- 180 degree bearing and the sense antenna disambiguates that.<br /><br />word verification: fliesSarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09991660841701835065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-11131519577458482342010-09-23T22:11:17.521+00:002010-09-23T22:11:17.521+00:00Oops, wrong technology. The VOR transmits a signal...Oops, wrong technology. The VOR transmits a signal that varies in phase with the direction from the transmitter. But the NDB is extremely simple, transmitting the same signal in all directions. The only difference between the NDB and an AM radio signal is that the NDB transmits only a Morse code identifier, while the AM radio station transmits traffic reports, oldies music, used car lot commercials and, until last week or so, Doctor Laura.Aviatrixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13634111275860140084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-89705381044931721672010-09-23T19:31:16.822+00:002010-09-23T19:31:16.822+00:00Thanks for the links clearly explaining how an ADF...Thanks for the links clearly explaining how an ADF works. It's still unclear to me how it works with a std. AM broadcast station, but the rotating phase signal transmitted by an NDB - cool.<br /><br />... recovering electronics geek and Tesla fan. <br /><br />Best technology of the 20th century ( near magic ): electronics & radio. And Aircraft, of course.Sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09991660841701835065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-17649170222757599342010-09-23T15:44:12.841+00:002010-09-23T15:44:12.841+00:00It's not so much a matter of 'slipping by&...It's not so much a matter of 'slipping by' as the fact that airplanes become less predictable and much harder to model at low speeds. You can't even predict exactly how the same real airplane will stall three times in a row in practice.Aviatrixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13634111275860140084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-19131050272681131012010-09-23T10:49:13.573+00:002010-09-23T10:49:13.573+00:00Before this article I'd always assumed, and sw...Before this article I'd always assumed, and swallowed the line, that modern simulators are capable of reproducing every flight condition in full fidelity. <br /><br />Who tests and evaluates a simulator? FAA in the US? If so, how did something obvious as crosswind slip by?k1mgyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14683219243101195524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-8545383350691321332010-09-23T04:56:14.514+00:002010-09-23T04:56:14.514+00:00The electrical smoke issue wasn't so much a fa...The electrical smoke issue wasn't so much a failure in <i>simulator</i> training as an erroneous concept in emergency handling, period, although I suppose the lack of choking smoke and melting plastic dripping from the ceiling gives the pilots a false idea of what that might be like.<br /><br />SR111 was very early in my life as a pilot; I can't remember a time when smoke-in-cockpit did not mean we land NOW and ATC pushes the fire button. I wish I had a photo of the big firefighter in full gear looking at a C152 that he would in no way fit inside. The airport didn't have its own fire department, so he was from the local town and I think coming to the airport was an interesting diversion in his day. I showed him where the fuel lines ran, and how to shut off the fuel and electrical, for future reference.Aviatrixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13634111275860140084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-7244636275242231772010-09-23T04:30:31.501+00:002010-09-23T04:30:31.501+00:00Re: "simulator training may be to blame for p...Re: "simulator training may be to blame for pilots responding incorrectly"<br /><br />Negative flight training in simulators is a pet bug of mine. Not only due to the technical limitations but also from bad habits that are ingrained by simulator training practices in general.<br /><br />Case in point: The training to deal with Electrical Smoke in the Cockpit: for years crews were taught how to laboriously follow out a very long and complex checklist - pulling many CBs to isolate the cause of electrical smoke etc., And if this emergency happened in the middle of the Alantic Ocean, maybe that was the only choice. <br /><br />But realistically, most of the time the best option involves landing the aircraft asap, regardless of landing weight, etc.. After the Swissair crash near Halifax, in which valuable time was lost working through a long checklist, the training emphasis in Canada was significantly changed.<br /><br />And the entire concept of "new airplane, new day" in training, where one serious emergency failure is "cleared up" all of a sudden and a new flight begins with an entirely new scenario, incorporates all sorts of negative and incomplete training.Aluwingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16518739658424324739noreply@blogger.com