Airbus warns that pilot handling skills are under threat

If you fly commercially, this should worry you. Flight International reports:

Airbus is urging the aviation industry to confront the issue of how to ensure long-haul airline pilots maintain basic flying skills in the face of ever-increasing aircraft reliability and cockpit automation.

"We need to refocus on basic handling," Capt Jacques Drappier, Airbus vice-president training, told the APATS training conference at the show yesterday during a presentation on the manufacturer's training philosophy for its latest widebody programme, the A350 XWB.

"I think that at a certain point in time we need to bring back a little bit of handling," said Drappier, adding that he advocates more simulator time for pilots to hone their basic skills. Meanwhile, he says, there are some elements of training that could be moved from the simulator to the classroom.

According to Drappier, long-haul pilots typically log 800-900 flying hours a year, although this could include "less than 3h of stick time", the majority of which is accumulated on final approach and flare.

"We put people into our training today who have forgotten how to fly, basically," he says. "This is an issue that needs to be addressed by the industry."

There's more at the link. Paragraphs in bold print are my emphasis.

That's pretty worrying! When you think that a modern airline pilot actually spends very little time flying the aircraft - most of that's done by the autopilot and computers - one can understand that he or she might get more than a little out of practice at dealing with emergencies!

I hope Airbus can persuade airlines to increase their training for such contingencies.

Peter