Re:The crash of Air France flight 447 (2021)
by t0mas88 on Friday August 11, 2023 @02:54PM
(#37092435)
I have an instructor rating, part of training is exactly that. If someone freezes up at the wrong moment, be prepared to use violence to get them off the controls.
One trick that often works is to put your hand in front of their eyes. Humans have a deep instinct to want to see at all times, so they'll let go of the controls and use their hands to remove yours. No need for physical harm.
Re:The crash of Air France flight 447 (2021)
by mrguyorama on Friday August 11, 2023 @03:31PM
(#37092900)
Bonin was showing himself to be extremely resilient to coming back to reality and rationality. He needed to be physically restrained. He was far too stuck in his head to rely on anything less.
Alternatively, we just kinda have an understanding that if your pilot goes into panic, and the copilot can't figure out a way to get them out of it, everyone dies.
Of course, then what if they panicking pilot decides they have to restrain you so they can continue what they are doing?
Bonin just went to primal instincts, full fight or flight, and was "taking matters into his own hands" even despite the fact that he was aware he wasn't doing anything useful. The other pilot even told him to stop, but he didn't. He wasn't a copilot in this scenario, but rather a direct adversary to recovery of the plane.
He should have been treated as a rogue pilot the second he started panicking, but the other guy was kinda busy. He was not acting rationally in any way. Had he dropped dead from a heart attack, AF447 would be an interesting anecdote instead of a tragedy.
How do you train pilots for: "In very rare cases, especially during a crisis, you may need to physically harm your coworker to prevent them from causing the death of hundreds of people, but definitely don't do it if you're the one causing the problem, which you will never figure out if you ARE the one causing the problem"