What makes Richard Quest on CNN an aviation expert?

[HipChick]

CNN always seems to trot him out...

[OneBlueDotBama]

1. Brit Accent...

He used to be their Royal watcher, Royals fly in airplanes...so

[malaise]

23. Ding ding we have a winner

[okaawhatever]

2. He's not an aviation expert, he's their aviation correspondent. Just like someone is

the middle east correspondent.

[HipChick]

7. I understand that..however, I'd rather hear from an expert in the field...

[okaawhatever]

11. Yeah, me too, but often the experts are crappy at being on tv nt

[fleur-de-lisa]

15. This morning CNN had Mary Schiavo on to discuss the Boeing 737 Max 8 jets.

And they interviewed her a couple days ago. She is an actual aviation expert.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2019/03/11/intv-amanpour-boeing-737-max-8-mary-schiavo.cnn

[fleur-de-lisa]

3. No clue. I can't stand that twit.

[HipChick]

5. I can't stand him either...

[dalton99a]

4. He probably knows how to play Flight Simulator

[tammywammy]

6. He's the aviation correspondent.

You can continue to expect to see him when the big news is about aviation.

[PoliticAverse]

8. He specializes in covering aviation. He actually wrote a book on the disappearance of

Malaysia Airlines flight 370.

[Laffy Kat]

9. I Googled him. He's not a pilot.

He has a keen interest in aviation an has written books about the airline industry. He was noted as saying that his eyesight has kept him from becoming a pilot. Still, he seems to know his stuff. I think he usually focuses on the financial end of the aviation business, but they do seem to also consult him about disasters. I don't mind him, British accents are easy on the ears.

[Johnny2X2X]

10. I work in Avionics

I am far from an expert, but have talked to actual experts here at work. Consensus seems to be this is a pilot training issue and they should not be grounded.

My company's Flight Management System is on board the B737 Max.

[PoliticAverse]

12. I don't know if you saw this, but it contained the interesting tidbit...

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/13/us/pilot-complaints-boeing-737-max/index.html

In another complaint, a first officer reported that the aircraft pitched nose down after the autopilot was engaged during departure. The autopilot was then disconnected and flight continued to its destination, according to the database.

[Johnny2X2X]

22. People get alarmed

But pilots see all kinds of things and complain about them. I've worked directly with some of these airlines in question, and you'd be shocked at some of their questions. If the public read all of the complaints (vast majority are unfounded) pilots have about flight management systems they'd never fly.

Lion Air....um, yeah....I've heard them ask some very very fundamental questions about their own FMSs.

The pilots that I work with seem to think that the B737 Max should not be grounded, but these pilots are also experts in this technology. Their point is that the pilots have a switch to deactivate this system on the center console at any time and they didn't know to flip it when the AOA sensor directed the stab trim system to do what it did.

[Mr. Sparkle]

17. The problem seems to be with autopilot making the nose dive on takeoff for some unknown reason,

according to a few American pilots. It doesn't happen every time, but enough times to bring down 2 aircraft, which makes it a Boeing and FAA problem. It could just be a bug in the software and that why Boeing think they can fix it with a software update, but we wont know for sure until there is a full investigation.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

20. Is the autopilot commonly engaged on take-off?

[Mr. Sparkle]

21. As a non expert, that would be my understanding. It acts as an assistant doing some basic

procedures while the captain and co pilot still maintain over all control and situational awareness.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

25. Actually, I'm pretty sure the auto pilot is intended to keep the

plane straight and level when cruising, not to assist in take-off and landing.

Honestly, I think we need to look closely at the airlines involved in the crashes at least as much as the aircraft itself.

[Mr. Sparkle]

27. That is the most common perception of autopilot, but in the last few years more functionality has

been added to aid in takeoffs and landing.

Most pilots with a good flight control system limit their hand-flying to takeoff and landing, simply because the autopilot does such a nice job of everything else.

Says one pilot:

“On take-off, I set the bug to runway heading or to the first vector if I know it and simply engage the system in heading mode as soon as the wheels are up.

“The flight control system holds heading and the pitch angle at which I engaged, and I’m free to concentrate on power setting, traffic and ATC.

“Attitude hold is what you get when the system is just plain on. The computer looks at the attitude and directional gyros and commands the autopilot servos to move the controls to keep the aircraft at the present attitude.

“To establish a different pitch attitude during a climb, you can press a button called CWS (control wheel steering), which momentarily uncouples the system allowing you to move the aircraft manually to a new attitude, which the system will maintain when you release CWS.

https://www.quora.com/When-does-the-pilot-switch-on-and-off-the-autopilot-after-takeoff-and-before-landing

[Tipperary]

13. There is a really hilarious story of when he got arrested in Central Park years ago.

Wearing only a dog collar or some such.

That aside, I like him.

[Cattledog]

14. He's the guy who was busted in Central Park & had a rope around his neck attached to his penis.

I think it was around 2008.

[dalton99a]

18. "I've got some meth in my pocket."

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/19/nyregion/19quest.html

[Hekate]

16. IIRC he lost a friend in a major preventable crash & maintains a personal interest. He's a civilian

...who has studied up on the issues.

This has come up before here.

[Mr. Sparkle]

19. He is an Aviation Correspondent for CNN

which is a beat he covers for cnn, meaning he has some understanding of the job , but not as much as an analyst who would have worked in the industry.

[PeeJ52]

24. He's Jonny Quest's brother???

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Quest_(TV_series)

[miyazaki]

26. Not as bad as the time they broke out their travel guru

as the expert on another air disaster.

Really, years and years ago when CNN decided to let go of their science reporter
Mile's O' Brian who was a pilot, is when I started shaming their network.