What Really Happened Aboard Air France 447

[SMKR]

Chilling, but long/good read.

What Really Happened Aboard Air France 447

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/crashes/what-really-happened-aboard-air-france-447-6611877

[Foxy90GT]

just finished reading it all, although i'm sure there's some i don't completely understand it's VERY interesting.

[txsr20de]

Good post.

It's pretty amazing that they were able to recover the FDR at that depth. Its a shame that the evidence shows that it was a completely avoidable accident.

[jewozzy]

wonder if this would have happened with proper treadmill training...

[johnny--2k]

thats crazy!

[ceyko]

Very interesting read

Sent from my DROID BIONIC

[Chas_svo]

How many read that thinking "damnit push the nose down"?

Good read.

[Treasure Chest]

It's scary how dumb and technology dependent the world has become--from cashiers who can't make change without reading a register screen to pilots who can't fathom that the computers have failed and they're flying on their own.
It's fear of this type of technology rendered stupidity that gets me worried about the future of health care.

[momo]

excellent read.


wow, that french-nig bonin ruined them.
#1. french pilots don't understand the word "stall", air france needs to reprogram that shit to say "Oi" upon receipt from airbus.
#2. asynchronous controls are a bad idea airbus.

Unlike the control yokes of a Boeing jetliner, the side sticks on an Airbus are "asynchronous"—that is, they move independently. "If the person in the right seat is pulling back on the joystick, the person in the left seat doesn't feel it,"

0240 (Bonin) Mais je suis à fond à cabrer depuis tout à l'heure!
But I've had the stick back the whole time!

At last, Bonin tells the others the crucial fact whose import he has so grievously failed to understand himself.

i'm not a pilot but even i understand pulling back on the stick is going to cause decrease in airspeed. (thanks microsoft flight sim!)

[Rreemo]

I'm kind of amazed that AF with such a good reutation had such a complete a utter Jibronee in the right-hand seat in a trans-continental flight like this.

One thing is almost surely certain...had Bonin not been on that flight, all those poor people would likely still be alive today.

[inline 6]

Was anyone else raging mad at the dumb ass co-pilot who was holding the stick all the way back until it was way too late to correct.

[Binky]

Seen this same topic across multiple groups and most people wish Bonin lived just so they could kill him again.

[SS Junk]

Was anyone else raging mad at the dumb ass co-pilot who was holding the stick all the way back until it was way too late to correct.

Was a little more pissed a highly experienced captain left two idiots in control and then didn't make himself available while any of this was going on.

[helosailor]

From the moment Bonin pulled back on the stick (and Robert let him), the flight was essentially doomed. The A330, while excellent at cruise altitude and speed, is not very maneuverable in out of control or near out of control circumstances. It's one of those cases of "the best way to get the plane under control is to never get out of control in the first place". Part of it is the design of the flight control surfaces, and a big part of it is that Airbus deliberately slowed down the actuators for the major surfaces after the American Airlines flight lost its vertical stabilizer/rudder over Queens, NY. That was an A300, but the A300 and A330 are pretty close in size.

excellent read.


wow, that french-nig bonin ruined them.
#1. french pilots don't understand the word "stall", air france needs to reprogram that shit to say "Oi" upon receipt from airbus.
#2. asynchronous controls are a bad idea airbus.



i'm not a pilot but even i understand pulling back on the stick is going to cause decrease in airspeed. (thanks microsoft flight sim!)

#1: The things are built in France, that's what makes it so ironic.
#2: Airbus has done this since their first plane with FBW controls. They have put all of their eggs in the asynchronous basket, for better or worse. With so much invested in the design, I don't see them changing.

I'm kind of glad to see more blame being put on Bonin than on the plane. Initially, before the FDR and CVR data was adequately reviewed, everyone seemed ready to doom the A330. I worked with the A330 for several years and love that plane. I even got to go help bring a couple of them "home" from Toulouse.

[347Mike]

I agree with all of the above but if you are cruising at 37k why would you pull up?