Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!tikal!phred!petej
From: petej@phred.UUCP (Pete Jarvis)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Soviet and American Shuttles
Message-ID: <2382@phred.UUCP>
Date: 12 Oct 88 14:13:13 GMT
References: <1574@nunki.usc.edu> <3020@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
Reply-To: petej@phred.UUCP (Pete Jarvis)
Distribution: sci.space.shuttle,sci.space
Organization: <3020@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>o
Lines: 24

>push forward on the stick, it "feels" like it starts to go up!  This is
>why it is NOT landed by pilots, but by the auto-land system.  I watched
>the pilots try to land it on the Rockwell simulator, and I NEVER saw
>anybody do it: they ALWAYS crashed.  The first landing on the runway
>at Edwards by the Enterprise, in front of all the political luminaries,
>was almost a disaster: they started that approach with the pilots
>on the sticks, and the gound controllers had to shut them off because
>they were approaching to structural limits of the airframe!  The autoland
>system greased it on that time, and has hit the numbers every time since.
>The pilots DO NOT land the shuttle!  I do not believe the Russians
>
Everything I have ever heard about Shuttle landing capability has said that
the Shuttle Auto-land avionics software does most of flying/gliding for the
vehicle with the pilots taking over at various intervals. However, on final
approach, I heard the Auto-land system has NOT been used because they are 
unsure about the results and until they can test it more thoroughly, will
not be used. The pilots, I hear, take over doing the "S" turns and on down
to the landing. The pilots at the very least have stick control on short
final. I saw a Shuttle taped special once that said the commander, (I
forget who and what Shuttle it was), "was going to try to hit the numbers".
He greased it right on the numbers. The Auto-land system would not have
been able to do that except by luck.

Peter Jarvis..........Physio-Control - Redmond, WA.