Purpose of Simulation (Was:Re: 8-Ball Lock)


Danny Deger wrote:
"Skylon" <skylon@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1167277234.540026.252690@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I remember reading on this group awhile ago that during a simulation
run, the pilot's 8-ball on the shuttle became locked, and this caused a
serious problem with the guidance system. Engineers later determined
this could happen on the actual shuttles.

This can't happen now due to the glass cockpit design.

Any truth to this, or is my memory faulty?

Any references would be appreciated also.

-A.L.


You are correct. The pitch error needle on the ADI froze to the center
position. The pilot (called the commander) did not notice the problem and
thought guidance was telling him he was flying perfectly. He was not. He
got very, very low. The copilot (called the pilot) noticed the problem, but
did take corrective action. They ended up too low to bailout and landed
short of the runway. This would certainly have destroyed the orbiter and
killed the crew if it had happened in the real shuttle.

In defense of the old shuttle cockpit, if the needle has a power failure, it
fails to being out of view. In the simulator, it failed to the center
position. The likelihood of fail to center in the old shuttle would be MUCH
less than in the simulator. In the glass cockpit, it can't happen.

There was also "pilot error" involved" to follow the bad indication until he
died. There are MANY cues in the cockpit other than the needle that all is
not well. He ignored all of them. Also with good needles, they are moving
a little bit all of the time and you have to constantly correct small
errors. The pilot should have noticed this IMO.

The person that did this has never flown again and I don't think is going
to. I will not post his name in this group.

Danny Deger

Danny,

Was there a connection between this and/or other events and the fact
that this person has not flown again? Without knowing more about where
this person was in terms of learning to fly the orbiter, it seems you
are saying that any human piloting error in the simulator is
unforgivable.

As many comments as have been made about pulling off a successful RTLS,
it seems that there would have to be some instances of good crews
having a bad day go even worse in the sim. It seems that is one of the
points of the sim is that have a place to make mistakes, and learn from
them without hurting anyone or exposing a national asset like the
orbiter to additional risk.

Given the comments regarding the orbiter's flying characteristics
(drops like a rock, flies like a brick), it seems hard to believe that
no one active commanders or pilots haven't bent a virtual orbiter,
especially when the sim team tosses in a failed APU or two, a failed
GPC, loss of cabin pressure, and just for the fun of it, snakes on the
mid-deck.

Blue skies to all

John

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