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Another electronic helm system fails to work? (video)

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by johnnry, Nov 28, 2019.

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  1. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    i Dont understand this obsession with the horn. Yes it should be sounded but most captains only have two hands.... juggling engine controls, thruster controls, a radio or hailer to issue orders, a steering wheel plus possibly attempting to reset controls or even shutting down and restarting engines.

    this fixation on the the horn while entertaining is as silly as measuring distances in google earth
  2. captholli

    captholli Senior Member

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    M.Y. "Unforgettable" was captained by an ex Norwegian Merchant Master with many yrs of commercial Azipod experience. Not only could he not control the Schottel pods in two long videos depicting the Lyford incident but he didn't sound the horn once as I would think that he would have needed ten arms in a situation like that dealing with communicating with crew and the engine room all the while hitting the thruster using the pod controls. Horn in this case is irrelevant. Correction on my post #40, Albany Marina is on New Providence Island and not G.B. / My bad, My mistake, was still on my first cup of coffee.
  3. FlyingGolfer

    FlyingGolfer Member

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    Well, not all of us.
  4. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    I remember one of those videos when it was pin-balling down a canal. No explanation with the vid, assumed a drunk. but instead of stopping, it kept going.
    There was another vid recorded by a lady in her boat. The out of control boat hitting some marina boats and the canal bank across from the docks.
    I assumed different boats and thought another drunk in that vid also.
    These videos were minutes long.
    In both cases, if the operator was sober and realized he had rudder (pod) problems, why does not anybody just turn the mains off. It was obvious standing by the helm was doing nothing, just mosey down to the ER and hit that big red button.
  5. Beau

    Beau Senior Member

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    A report of sorts will get filed, but we all will have lost interest?
  6. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    i think it is a human reaction to believe you can regain control where as if you shut down the engines you become a passenger. I also think it will take a few seconds to double check yourself and make sure you didn’t cause the problem, like not transfer control or something
  7. mapism

    mapism Senior Member

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    I'm glad that you found my contribution entertaining.
    At least that's some result, as opposed to reiterating something everybody already agreed with, myself included.

    Ref. my silly measurements, I did that only because I had already checked out that spot before Capt J posted his estimated distance, and I was puzzled by his numbers - nothing else.
    It took me three minutes, if that.
    If in my boots you would have taken an eleven hours flight to go there and measure by hand, well, THAT is what I call silly, if you ask me.
  8. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    Whatever
  9. gcsi

    gcsi Member

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    As I read this thread, two thoughts come to mind.
    - In aviation, we’re taught to FLY THE PLANE. Point being, in an emergency, it’s easy to get bogged down into the minutia of whatever problems are causing the emergency, running lists, diagnosis, etc... Innumerable examples of letting a perfectly flyable plane impact the ground while heads down in a problem. Fortunately, aviators get to train for the most likely failures and proper reactions; makes it a “little” easier.
    - In a very dangerous or life threatening situation, one doesn’t really “know” how they’ll react until it’s their time. The reactions I’ve seen range from almost instant laser focus to going EEK and freezing. You NEVER know who’s going to eek-out
  10. FlyingGolfer

    FlyingGolfer Member

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    Because of lack of feel in the controls with these big boats (I assume), I suspect figuring out what to do when something like this happens is very difficult. In aviation, when an engine is lost, we pilots know immediately through control pressures and yaw and clear cut instrument indications. If a control surface jams, same thing. Immediate feedback through the yoke or rudder pedals. Plus our training is exhaustive and comprehensive. Yachts are apparently more complex AND more difficult in a failure than I thought. And probably much more difficult to train for various malfunctions.
  11. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    And yet pilots when faced with issues of such malfunction, react in many different ways and occasionally make mistakes as in the cases of the 737 Max's.

    The feedback is one thing, determining a solution is quite another. There was no simple corrective action in this case. The crash was unavoidable. Think of it a bit as failures on take off, occurring at just the timing that it leads to a crash.
  12. Oscarvan

    Oscarvan Senior Member

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    If I had a nickel for every time someone stepped on the wrong rudder in the sim.....
  13. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    I really wish air pilots and a 5 minute boat pusher comparison was not made here.
  14. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    The other thing, is the Captain, which has 35 years of experience, has only 10 days experience on this vessel. He might not have even run this yacht before. Not to mention Captholli's post mentions that these controls are very problematic at best. Sometimes yachts should stick with yacht systems.
  15. FlyingGolfer

    FlyingGolfer Member

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    I guess what I was saying is that the yachting world is more challenging than I thought. And more impressive when conducted safely.