Comments on: A Dark and Windy Night…

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By: forex webs » True Track Autopilot

forex webs » True Track Autopilot — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 13:19:06 +0000

[...] 2.A Dark and Windy Night… – Miles O’Brien – Uplinks – True/Slant This is true considering the statistical track record of its airplanes. … Fly into a cloud or lose track of the horizon, you better be paying attention to your instruments to ensure that you are where you think you are (or where you expect the autopilot to be taking you). It was late and the crew was likely tired. [...]

By: rodgergriffith

rodgergriffith — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:24:48 +0000

Closed or not? Pilots have been flying non-precision approaches for decades into worse conditions. Better pilots, more training. A few clouds at 2000′ and a 25-35 kt headwind. Very doable.

By: cameron

cameron — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:10:09 +0000

I do not think the Airbus in inherently unsafe based on anecdotal evidence from recent crashes. The fact that thousands of uneventful flights take place each day in such aircraft provides quite a bit of reassurance of reliability. Sure, latent defects are always possible (the 737 rudder actuator problems come to mind) but the chances of these leading to a major accident are quite remote. Whatever your opinion on the much discussed Airbus fly-by-wire (I, by the way, see ‘human in the loop’ as an asset), it has had an enviable operating record. Statistically speaking, flying on the airlines is safer that most other forms of transportation, perhaps even walking.

In the case of this accident, it certainly seems that they crew was dealt a very bad hand indeed. Flying into a poorly-equipped island airport at night in less than ideal conditions. In this situation, there is little room for error. Fly into a cloud or lose track of the horizon, you better be paying attention to your instruments to ensure that you are where you think you are (or where you expect the autopilot to be taking you). It was late and the crew was likely tired. Was this the final straw?

We can debate the significance of the contributing factors until the cows come home, but there is one question that must be asked to get at the core of this accident: why was the flight in this situation to begin with?

By: roselasting

roselasting — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:46:18 +0000

You are here: Home » National » Kerala chief minister’s flight develops mid-air engine failure

Kerala chief minister’s flight develops mid-air engine failure
DH News Service,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

An Indian Airlines flight carrying 136 passengers, including Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and two other ministers, from here to New Delhi via Kochi had a miraculous escape when it had to land in Nagpur following a mid-air failure of one of its twin engines.

The flight which took off from here at 6:15 am landed in Kochi and had then taken off for Delhi with 136 passengers when it developed the snag near Nagpur.

State Minister for Water Resources N K Premchandran who was also on the flight told Deccan Herald that he heard a loud noise at the back of the plane and it shook. “It was enough to shake us off the slumber. The sound of the engines also became quite feeble. Soon, the pilot announced that there was a technical snag and asked us to fasten our seatbelts as we were landing in Nagpur,” said the minister.

Premachandran, who was also a member of Parliament, said the fact that there was no turbulence and the sky was clear made it a bit scary.

New aircraft

“We became a bit apprehensive and our worries were over only after the pilot landed the plane safely. It was only after the landing that the pilot announced very apologetically that one of the engines of the Airbus 321 had indeed failed,” he said. According to the minister, the pilot also appeared to be surprised as he said that the aircraft was brand new and that there was no reason for it to develop an engine failure. Later, the VIPs and passengers continued their journey in another aircraft which was flown in from Delhi.
Indian Airlines sources here told Deccan Herald that since the A 321 aircraft was only a year old the incident was alarming.

“Engine failure is a rare incident even though it does not endanger an aircraft all on a sudden. It can still carry on flying for two more hours with a single engine,’’ a source said.
Achuthanandan and Premachandran were in Delhi to attend a meeting on the Mullaperiyar Dam controversy between Kerala and Tamil Nadu convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the evening. Achuthanandan and Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan would be in Delhi for two more days to attend a crucial meeting of the CPM politburo which will discuss the issues in the party’s Kerala unit and the setback the LDF suffered in the Lok Sabha elections.

By: roselasting

roselasting — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:45:37 +0000

Kerala chief minister’s flight develops mid-air engine failure
DH News Service,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

The flight which took off from here at 6:15 am landed in Kochi and had then taken off for Delhi with 136 passengers when it developed the snag near Nagpur.

Premachandran, who was also a member of Parliament, said the fact that there was no turbulence and the sky was clear made it a bit scary.

New aircraft

By: roselasting

roselasting — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:43:43 +0000

Kerala (A south Indian state) chief minister’s flight develops mid-air engine failure
DH News Service,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

The flight which took off from here at 6:15 am landed in Kochi and had then taken off for Delhi with 136 passengers when it developed the snag near Nagpur.

Premachandran, who was also a member of Parliament, said the fact that there was no turbulence and the sky was clear made it a bit scary.

New aircraft – A 321

All Indian pilots are trained to fly only with single engine on multi so no accidents due to pilot skill in India.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

By: thinking1

thinking1 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:33:16 +0000

I have since found the BEA report on the net and read it. Cleverly the investigators have ignored the more likely scenario that most of the jet would have slammed into the sea intact if the tail fin had first broken off in mid-flight. This would still be consistent with the damage observed. Also, they report the first 30 bodies recovered were clothed which directly contradicts other reports at the time. Also, the report is not sophisticated enough to understand the nature of analysing the true degree of redundancy in the aircraft systems. For example if one pitot tubes are all electrically heated by non-independant power supplies, then if one freezes over the others are likely to do so as well, etc. My brother works for IBM and long ago he predicted that sooner or later computerized planes would experience problems with software glitches because it is very difficult to test all the possible combinations of inputs and outputs. In this case, the BEA report is tacitly acknowledging the key importance of the speed data to the flight controls based on the amount of discussion in the report. In the old days, the true redundant backup to the pitot tube was the pilot who could “hunch” whether the plane was flying too fast or too slow. But this is clearly not possible with an airbus. Thus a whole new generation of technology is required to provide true redundant speed inputs. For example this could include GPS, pitot tubes, AOA’s, and other new devises which operate independantly and provide a “voting” function to increase the likelihood of accurate speed data. Until such a system is devised, the Airbus must be grounded to fix that and to replace the tailfins with aluminum. The Airbus is clearly too marginal to fly in bad weather otherwise. Reading the report it is clear the French are trying to buy time. We we have to wait for yet another crash before this situation is resolved. Meantime can I suggest we at least relocate the black box inside the tail fin so at least it will float following the next crash???

By: thinking1

thinking1 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:59:34 +0000

The worrisome thing is the way the French Investigators are now involved in a massive coverup of the causes of Air France flight 447 crash. The investigative report released today would have you believe the jet fell from the sky intact and bellied into the water. Almost impossible! And one slight problem—the recovered bodies were found mostly nude indicating clothing had been stripped from them while falling through air. Airbus is fearing for it’s survival. Fact is the tail fin design is flawed as is the common cause failure of 3 pitot tubes which in giving faulting information to the computers caused them to make bad adjustments to the avionics. The plane broke up in air as it experienced high g forces from overspeed. One of the major events was the tail fin breaking off first which immediately disabled the plane.

If the report is so honest why can’t we read it? Where is a copy? I’ll read it in French if available!

By: dwshanks

dwshanks — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:26:56 +0000

Glad to have you back on the bird watch!
Looking forward to your analysis of the new info on AF 447 showing it was intact upon impact.

dws