leads to…. how much conflict arrives when the pilot inputs and the computer inputs do not sync.
In the above clip , given jb's comments about the aircraft trying to help.. one has to wonder if they were not (in sync)
Of course the long lens compression makes it all look more spectacular
The aircraft isn't really trying help. It's trying to get rid of sideslip, but a consequence of that is that it tends to cancel much of the effect of the crosswind change. You shouldn't get into conflict with the FBW over this, as you simply shouldn't be using the rudders at this stage anyway. They are footrests for 99% of the time, and even in non FBW aircraft, most rudder activity comes from the aircraft itself (from the yaw damper). If you watch the video, you'll see that early in the piece the rudder activity is only with the lower part of the rudder; that's the FBW system. When both upper and lower rudder move, that's the pilot. The FBW may add or subtract from the input, but only to a limited degree, and never in the opposite direction.
He confirms that the pilot in the left seat was on his first line sector on the A380, upgrading. So "The first time actually really flying a stick with his left hand." is how he put it.
FO going to 380 command. A fair leap.
The company's immediate action was to blame the pilot. Both the Captain under training and the training Captain were pulled off the roster. "Usual airline gut reaction: blame the pilot."
Interestingly, you'd think they'd blame the training captain. Students are expected to get it wrong. Or at least you should be expecting them to. Think of Asiana at SFO.
It wasn't until the engineer responsible for the quick-access recorder analysis did an analysis and noted the exceptional wind-shifts because it did appear that the pilot had completely over-controlled with the rudder in the flare but in fact there were massive wind shifts in less than half a second, and that's what caused it. So "Both guys' skins were saved."
Once it touched down, the wind changes were much less of an issue. They didn't have the drift under control at touchdown, the aircraft geometry will start pulling it straight anyway. So, no, I think they overcontrolled, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was input from both seats, magnifying that. The QAR can't measure the wind then anyway.
The company did change its training policy so that the training Captain had to fly the first sector and the pilot under training had to observe the first landing.
QF always did this on the 380 training. Depending upon the background of the trainee, it may, or may not, be of value. For a 380 FO, I see very little value, but much more so for those from Boeings. My first landing in the 380 was in about 25 knots of crosswind, to the black hole that is 34L in Sydney. They didn't have to rebuild the aircraft, so it must have been ok, but probably not pretty.
