As I understand it, two of three angle of attack sensors were reporting spurious information - essentially being locked into one value regardless of the aircraft's motion. This suggests they were physically frozen. The third one was being disregarded as it was reporting (probably accurately) different information from the other two, ie it was outvoted. The crew disabled the input from one of the two locked sensors, and as the plane had already disregarded another, that meant two out of three were no longer reporting, so the computer went to "alternate law" which seems to mean it stopped paying any attention to the inputs from any of the sensors, which allowed the crew to resume normal control. Until then, the spurious readings were preventing the autopilot from engaging and maintaining a proper flight attitude.
Odd that once again there was no distress call from the crew. I'm just finding the lack of Maydays odd.
A Lufthansa pilot said on TV that getting in contact with ATC is one of their least priorities during an emergency. Flying the aircraft and navigating is already giving them an immense workload. So they are trained to prioritize according to the nature of the emergency.
Maybe our airliner pilots here can shed some light on this?
Why men throw their lives away attacking an armed Witcher... I'll never know. Something wrong with my face?
Not to speculate or anything (much too soon), but I saw an article last week about a Lufthansa A321 that suffered from a severe loss of altitude in November 2014 on a flight from Bilbao to Munich.
Can't help wondering if the issue with the Germanwing's Airbus could have been something similar?
The scary fact for me here is that the flight augmentation system altered the pilots input (because it "trusted" in 2 frozen sensors) and made the aircraft to pitch down, despite the copilot pulling the stick back. Hopefully they change(ed) the heating system on these sensors, at least.
Modern Aircraft are a product of the engineer's who build them, and like road traffic collisions it is always a human at fault in the end. (Either the guy who made the sensors, or the guy who signed them off, or the guy who installed them... you get the idea. We build the planes, write the code, fly them, ride in them etc etc etc. There's always something you've missed, unfortunately sometimes you only this find out when one crashes.
The best solution? This:
Quote:
They should have a Big Button called "Manual Override" The mission statement of this button will be: "Translate all direct pilot inputs to the control surfaces, without additional computer input."
Or more simply "Do what the F**k I tell you to."
I guess that's why Harrison Ford likes flying the simple one engined WW2 fighters, they don't backchat like C3PO when s**t goes wrong.
"Sir! The odds of successfully landing on a golf course with a crippled engine are 3 billion to one!" (Or more accurately: "Terrain! Pull up! Pull Up!")
I think Timothy has the right idea though, never enter an aircraft without an alternative method of exit.
Last edited by Comrade_Hedgehog; 03/25/1512:39 PM.
Its not the bullet with your name on it you have to worry about. But the one addressed: "To Whom It May Concern"
Yes but their descent lasted 10 minutes at a rate of around 1000 m/minute...it said that it(s probable that the pilots were in a way or another incapacited.
"Anyone can shoot you down if you don't see him coming but it takes a wonderfully good Hun to bag a Camel if you're expecting him." Tom Cundall.
There is some new information that one of the pilots was locked out of the crew cabin and was not able to get back in. The other pilot was not responding to him.
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho Marx
“One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” -Milton Friedman
There is some new information that one of the pilots was locked out of the crew cabin and was not able to get back in. The other pilot was not responding to him.
CNN TV is stuck on this while other news networks have not changed their stories yet.
Just FYI, and obviously I don't know if this system was installed on the Germanwings Airbus, nor if it's still valid, nor if there really was a pilot locked outside, but here's a video on the door security. Video was uploaded almost a year ago.
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the universe is for it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
Just FYI, and obviously I don't know if this system was installed on the Germanwings Airbus, nor if it's still valid, nor if there really was a pilot locked outside, but here's a video on the door security. Video was uploaded almost a year ago.
An "aviaton expert" on German TV just claimed that - in case of the door being manually locked from the inside (switch in the "down" position), even with the correct code put in, the door will remain locked for 20 minutes....which would make sense, if some terrorists forces a crew member to give up the code of the cockpit door.
Why men throw their lives away attacking an armed Witcher... I'll never know. Something wrong with my face?
Apparently the pilot had left the cockpit, and the co-pilot locked him out, and initiated the "controlled descend".
Holy crap. WTF?
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
Joined: Apr 2001 Posts: 121,494PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
King Crimson - SimHQ's Top Poster
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,494
Miami, FL USA
Originally Posted By: Para_Bellum
If this turns out to be a suicide it would be absolutely horrible.
And as of right now we know nothing about the background of this co-pilot. We'll know soon enough I'm sure.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
Joined: Apr 2001 Posts: 121,494PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
King Crimson - SimHQ's Top Poster
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,494
Miami, FL USA
So I know this is speculation but here's my thinking: If this guy wanted to simply commit suicide and kill just himself then why didn't he do it in some other manner? Why do it by crashing a plane and killing innocent people? Perhaps there was some political statement to be made? Hmmm...
Last edited by PanzerMeyer; 03/26/1512:35 PM.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
So I know this is speculation but here's my thinking: If this guy wanted to simply commit suicide and kill just himself then why didn't he do it in some other manner? Why do it by crashing a plane and killing innocent people? Perhaps there was some political statement to be made? Hmmm...
