QATAR Airways Loses Control & Situational Awareness (SA) Drops to 850'

What happened to Qatar Airways QR 161? Michael 'Rocket' Blackstone dives into the flying mechanics behind what it takes to hand-fly an airliner. "The most important skill a pilot can have is the ability to fly the aircraft without the use of automation," says Blackstone. These 'stick and rudder' skills are learned and honed over a lifetime of flying. If a pilot becomes dependent upon automation (the use of the autopilot) these kinds of events are more likely to occur when the skills to fly become inadequate or are never fully developed and maintained. The use of the aircraft's lift vector, velocity vector/flight path vector, and excellent instrument flying skills are required to be used/honed during every flight. Pilots need to actually fly the aircraft more often hand's on, not less, when it is safe to do so,such as on nice weather days, either in small private aircraft to practice their flying skills or during the flight when the weather and situation are appropriate to do so in the jet. Let's use this Qatar incident as an opportunity to learn how important basic flying skills really are to help make our pilot community better, safer pilots over time. We, as pilots, have a very important responsibility to be competent, confident, capable, and seasoned professional aviators at all times. We must never let our guard down as we fly millions of people to their destinations every day safely. Keep on flying.

[@Harald-MacGerhard]

Thanks a lot for sharing this Mike
Darn, this was a close call.... Why would a pilot put in so much bank for a simple low altitude turn? 😮

[@grantgubatan4859]

why was the autopilot not engaged, it was supposed to be engaged after take off right?

[@ZX-mg5xs]

I like your take on it, too early of course but very strange, so far I’ve heard loss of situational awareness, apart from instruments, how could you descend at 3000ft pm and not realize what’s happening?

[@takingflightwithrocket]

Loss of Situational Awareness is insidious. When flying pressurized jets, you can't feel the descents or the climbs. All of the flight information comes from looking outside at horizion and crosschecking this data (visual cues) with the instruments.

[@gavinyuen040680]

I think the likely cause is spatial disorientation…not what you been going on and on about