SAFO 05002: Multiple full deflection, alternating flight control inputs.

Approved by: AFS-200

SAFOSafety Alert for Operators

U.S. Department SAFO 05002

of Transportation DATE: 10/25/05

Federal Aviation

Administration Flight Standards Service

Washington, DC http://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/airline_operators/airline_safety/safo A SAFO contains important safety information and may include recommended action. SAFO content should be especially valuable to air carriers in meeting their statutory duty to provide service with the highest possible degree of safety in the public interest.

Subject: Multiple full deflection, alternating flight control inputs.

Background: On November 12, 2001, an Airbus Industrie A300-605R, crashed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, Jamaica, New York. The airplane’s vertical stabilizer and rudder separated in flight and were found in Jamaica Bay, about 1 mile north of the main wreckage site. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued the following safety recommendation to the FAA:

A-04-59. Develop and disseminate guidance to transport-category pilots that emphasizes that multiple full deflection, alternating flight control inputs should not be necessary to control a transport-category airplane and that such inputs might be indicative of an adverse aircraft-pilot coupling event and thus should be avoided.

Discussion: “The Airplane Upset Recovery Training Aid” is the acknowledged guide for pilots flying transport-category turbojet airplanes with swept wings, like the A300-605R airplane mentioned in the accident. This aid is the product of a broad range of aviation experts, including Airbus, Boeing, and the FAA. This aid was originally issued in 1997, and then revised in August 2004 to address the issues that the NTSB has expressed, including adverse aircraft-pilot coupling, also known as pilot-induced oscillation.

The aid has been prominently displayed on an FAA public Web site for 6 or 7 years, and is available for download free of charge: http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/afs/afs200/afs210/training_aids/

Recommended Action: Directors of safety, directors of operations, fractional ownership program managers, and pilots of transport-category airplanes should be familiar with the location, availability, and content of “The Airplane Upset Recovery Training Aid.” They should pay particular attention to the cautions against control reversals and pilot-induced oscillations that are repeated throughout the training aid.