This is not a slam on dravnx, but a General Aviation autopilot in a Cirrus or Baron is no where near comparable in complexity to an autopilot in any modern airliner. There so many systems talking to each other in a modern jet. And it's hardly anecdotal. Is it speculation based on experience? Yeah, I'll give you that much.
I am aware of the incident you are speaking of (I think). That was a China Airlines flight, enroute to the US. That engine had flamed out multiple times in previous flights (part of the accident chain), flamed out on that flight (another link), they asked for a descent, but didn't (another link). The FE tried to restart the engine, while the captain let the autopilot continue to fly (against SOP and checklists, another link) but failed to close the bleeds because he didn't properly run the checklist (another link) and airspeed started to decay because the CA wasn't paying attention, and maintained altitude without enough power available to (another link). When the autopilot finally got to it's roll deflection limit, it said "fuck you, you take over" and disconnected (exactly what it designed to do). Because the aircraft was in such an unstable state with such a high asymmetric thrust (the autopilot on that model 747 won't apply rudder to keep it flying straight) it started to roll over and descend into the clouds because it was in such a bad side slip (which coupled with a stall, especially in a swept wing jet can cause a snap roll, but that's not what this thing did). When the captain finally decided to take over, they were in the clouds. He looked up, saw the excessive bank and excessive slip, and thought that his instruments had also failed (another link), and failed to cross check three separate attitude instruments that were all giving them the same information, (yet another link). They then became spatially disoriented. It wasn't until they broke out of the clouds that they were able to regain control. That crew and passengers are all lucky to be alive, and the only reason they are is because the 747 is built like a tank. Any airplane that can she'd that many parts and continue to fly is a damn well built airplane.
They should have never accepted that airplane. Are you really about to cross the Pacific in an airplane that has had multiple engine failures, and no one knows why? Then, when it happens, not follow the proper procedure? Remember when I said that training in some countries is piss poor at best? Here's one example. There were so many links in that chain.... their lucky that they had 11,000 feet to work with when they broke out of the clouds.
That's not anecdotal. That's factual. That's what's taught to us in training here in the US. We have retired instructors at my airline that came back from overseas that were brought over there to try and clean up their training, and it's helped, but it hasn't fixed the problem completely.
It's day four. I've got three legs today, just shy of 9hrs of flying to do, and I gotta wash the swamp out of my ass, brush the fuzz off my teeth, and break a beer bottle so I've got something to shave with. This post may sound like I'm being a dick, but that's not my intent, so please don't take it that way.
