Air France crash? 2

[Higgler]

Now that pitot tube icing has been confirmed, were the pilots pulling up to slow their speed?

Why don't pilots carry an aircraft capable GPS with them in the cockpit to see their ground speed? I say aircraft capable because one pilot I knew bought a $120 GPS that had a software load which would not display speeds above 100 mph, just to make you buy the much more expensive $400 aircraft GPS.

 

[kontiki99]

This is the update a co-worker sent me.

It doesen't make any sense to me.

I believe there is more to it, no telling what though.

 

[IRstuff]

Seems consistent with the news reports that have recently appeared. The big mystery seems to me to be why they didn't appear to be concerned by the -10,912/min descent rate. What's up with that?

Nose Up, still falling like a rock; Oh, maybe I fubar'd and stalled out the plane.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[rb1957]

i thought that by now we'd all seen that BEA article, came out awhile back.

FWIW, i think they "deep stalled" the plane ... and odd thing to do with a low tailplane.

 

[berkshire]

Does the phrase " Behind the power curve" fit in here somewhere?

This is pure speculation, but I would think that full throttle on a set of pod mounted engines would tend to push the nose up.
With the pilots also applying up elevator, it would produce a result like an old man trying to climb over a gate.
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

 

[rb1957]

since this (remote storage of black box data) was talked about several times, from today's flight international site ...

http://www.flightglobal.com/article...treaming-service-could-be-ready-by-early.html

 

[btrueblood]

"There are pressure sensors available, that are completely closed units"

You still need to poke a tube out into the airstream, and oriented along the forward flight direction (x axis), in order to measure the total (stagnation) pressure. It's the tube that potentially ices up, blocking the transmission of that pressure to the sensor face.

 

[IRstuff]

The only way to keep a pitot tube ice-free is with a heater, which is typically the case. Supposedly, the ones on the this particular model has a tendency to malfunction.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[kontiki99]

I'm not sure exclusive focus on the pitot tube is warranted. An airplane like this typically has an AOA sensor too.

That would be a better stall indicator. The wing always stalls at given AOA. Airspeed and pitch for a given airspeed vary with weight.

Indicated airspeed is used as an indicator of AOA when aircraft weight doesen't vary much.

Granted critical speeds should all be calculated for the weight
before takeoff.

I believe the AC computers recovered from the AOA issues and the crew inputs kept it in stall for a very very long time.

I wonder what kept a wing from dropping allowing the aircraft to enter a spin.

I've gone up in a Decathlon for spin practice. We practiced a manuver called rudder stalls. You basically stall the airplane but apply opposite rudder every time a wing starts to drop.

The aircraft wing remains in a stall, the aircraft porpoises its way through the sky, +/- less than 100 ft, all the while loosing altitude because the wing has no lift.

 

[Surestick]

"I wonder what kept a wing from dropping allowing the aircraft to enter a spin".

Yaw damper?