I was doing a check flight on a 727 after a C Check (overhaul). We figured out on rotation that our pitot system was f'ed up (both matched at 80 kts then went miles apart). Flew pwer and attitude with no problem. Not a big deal.
I have friends at Hawaiian in A330 training right now. Click-click, click-click. AP & At are off and there are charts for power/attitude flying. Just like a Boeing. These Frogs got the utlimate pink sheet for airmanship.
Just as an aside...for a fighter punk who knows zero about flying an airliner....why is 80 knots the airspeed indicator check speed?
I recently heard that this is also procedure in the USAF's new King Air variant (the MC-12W), and the explanation was that 80 knots was the check speed used in the C-135 series of jets, and that pilots from those airplanes brought that procedure over to the MC-12.
Based on the other posts talking about 80 knots being used for the same reason in the P-3....there's definitely something behind it. I just am not smart enough to know what it is.