Voice recognition software.........Hmmmm!

[Rustydog]

I use voice recognition software for a variety of operations. I can ask the FO to raise or lower the gear or adjust the flaps maybe. I can ask the FA to accomplish certain tasks. All well and good, very useful at busy times. But........it does have it's draw backs.

A little background info. My wife and daughter are into horses, my daughter rides in one day events and as such there is the daily routine of keeping the horse fit and healthy. Now my son Eden who I often refer to as Eed has no interest and is quite happy to stay at home in the warm and dry with me.

While cruising in my 737-800 at 32000ft Eden comes into the room and asks where his mum and sister are? I reply "they're up at the horse Eed".

It is at this point that all hell breaks loose. It appears that "they're up at the horse Eed" sounds very much like "open the doors please"

Draw your own conclusions to the rest of the flight.

Happy Christmas all and safe flying.

Kind regards Steve. 

[peter]

Priceless

I have more often the opposite problem: I am shouting the same sentence at my PC gain and again, with raising volume, but my co-pilot just won't do what I want him to

Happy Holidays,
Peter

[Travis]

As one of the FO voices with Multi Crew Experience, I had a time years ago where my FO's responses would be picked up by my microphone and fed back into MCE!!!

I quickly learned to fly with my audios fed into my headphones.

Best,

[alaskanflyboy]

I always find it amusing that they even acknowledge such commands, that and that they managed to so quickly open the door in flight past all the fail-safes.

[Travis]

John,

You raise a valid point... and it's something that our team has discussed. What would be the best way to properly handle a modern airliner's exit status when properly pressurized.

I came up with a scheme that would force a 'toggle exit' should we discover an exit being open over 10000ft on a modern pressurized airliner.

But some of the newer and more complex aircraft won't allow us to control their exits... only to monitor their status.

So... and I'm tossing this out as a wild idea... what if we simply ignored the exit status for pressurized aircraft when they're not on the ground?

As long as the cabin pressurization system doesn't go bonkers and tell us that the cabin pressure is over 11000ft, what's the harm??

This would allow for those 'reality-defying accidents' to have no consequence.

? ? ?

Best,

[alaskanflyboy]

Jan 10, 2018 15:12:56 GMT -5 Travis said:

You raise a valid point... and it's something that our team has discussed. What would be the best way to properly handle a modern airliner's exit status when properly pressurized.

I came up with a scheme that would force a 'toggle exit' should we discover an exit being open over 10000ft on a modern pressurized airliner.

But some of the newer and more complex aircraft won't allow us to control their exits... only to monitor their status.

So... and I'm tossing this out as a wild idea... what if we simply ignored the exit status for pressurized aircraft when they're not on the ground?

As long as the cabin pressurization system doesn't go bonkers and tell us that the cabin pressure is over 11000ft, what's the harm??

This would allow for those 'reality-defying accidents' to have no consequence.

For reality's sake, I'd suggest it be an option in the aircraft configuration on the level of allowing an aircraft to taxi on grass as it's not a hard and fast rule, but many aircraft have fail-safes that either have to be overridden or cannot be overridden at all without dumping pressurization and/or triggering weight-on-wheel/squat switches (as is the case with most plug type doors). Others, it's possible to open, but again, no good is going to come from it so why would flight crew even listen to you? A pressure differential of even 3 PSI pressing on a door will securely hold a plug type in place on its own. For the ones that just open outward, it's enough force to send you flying out the exit if you're still gripping the handle; and there are enough steps to opening them that you don't do it accidentally if it's not tied into the wight on wheel switches.

[peter]

Good idea. The option should only be available for pressurized aircraft, and maybe kick in only above 10000' or so.

Peter

[alaskanflyboy]

Jan 11, 2018 5:15:15 GMT -5 peter said:

Good idea. The option should only be available for pressurized aircraft, and maybe kick in only above 10000' or so.

Peter

Depending on the operation of the door, some non-pressurized aircraft may not be capable of opening in flight. It all depends on if there are locks activated by the aircraft's weight-on-wheel/squat switches. This is why I think an option in aircraft characteristics will be the most realistic option. It would allow captains to set it for specific aircraft they fly that they know can't open in flight without overriding systems. For aircraft that can be opened and there are flight crew aboard, maybe have the attendant or FO say something like "Are you sure?" or "Are you nuts?!".

[Travis]

If and When enabled, this option would need to be engaged on a per-aircraft-config basis.

After all, you can now perform airdrop assignments which require 'open doors'....

Best,