Brazilian Triangle?

[jackellis]

Actually, no. I suspect this one might be a control system failure. Hope they find the airplane whole and everyone safe: http://www.yahoo.com/s/1079481

[LCHIEN]

doesn't sound like a good outcome. Vanished off radar screens way out 3 hours over water and no warnings or communication except for one warning transmission generated automatically. No place to put down, sudden loss = bad crash.

[Ed62]

These things are always real bad because of the number of lives presumably lost. It would be hard to think of any other outcome at this time.

Ed

[germdoc]

Very sad event.

I had a colleague who was in a plane that was hit by lightning--he said it was a harrowing experience that made him and his fellow passengers think they were going to meet their maker. A pilot friend of mine said that lightning strikes are rather common and generally not very dangerous, but maybe this case is the exception?

At the very least, the next time I'm flying and the pilot comes on and says, "Sorry folks, but there's going to be a little turbulence," I will say a prayer and take a valium.

[L. D. Jeffries]

If they penetrated a violent storm I can see how it might down the plane. Years ago I was on a flight that flew into a t-storm over Germany, the up and down drafts were so violent that when we landed in Hamburg they had to ground the plane. I was sure that it was the "end" Only time I ever hit a female, passenger next to me was going ballistic, so I smacked her face to stop her from setting everyone else off. My thoughts for all the families left behind, I'm sure there is little hope for any good news from this.

[DaveS]

Am I the only one that read this post's title and thought the article might be NSFW?

*phew*

I have been spending too much time on Digg

[Uncle Cracker]

Am I the only one that read this post's title and thought the article might be NSFW?

*phew*

I have been spending too much time on Digg

I was envisioning some new style of bikini wax, too...

Unfortunately the real story is very tragic. I can't imagine their not getting off a "mayday" call. It must've been something catastrophic, or an incorrect altimeter setting in no-visibility conditions (although not likely, due to substantial time in the air).

[jackellis]

As the OP, I know this is a family publication.

Apparently the pilots were able to get a message off that indicated some problems and equipment on the airplane that communicates with the maintenance people stopped working. When this happened, I imagine they were at cruise altitude (30,000 feet or so) and about three hours into their flight.

Apparently there's so little information that even speculating on the cause is...speculative.

[crokett]

I saw the topic and my first thought was also related to a bikini wax. Then I figured it was something else, given this forum. The only time I can remember ever being scared on a plane is in February trying to land in Pittsburgh.

[430752]

The last I read was from some air safety industry exec (NGO) who reasoned the problem was with the Airbus itself. Apparently two Quantas jets have had their "traction control" (to use an automobile analogy) engaged for faulty reasons. Since it is fly by wire, an electronic brain monitors things and attempts to override perceived problems. They are reportedly not defeatable by pilot input until the "event" is deemed over by the electronic brain. In each of the Quantus jets scenarios, the electronic brain (wrongly) sensed a stall and put the plane into a nose dive to gain air speed. This guys sounds pretty serious in saying that this jet got jolted by lightening (or similar cause) which triggered the brain to sense a stall, putting the jet into a nosedive, which then hit a downdraft from the thunderstorm, and was thus not recoverable.

I'm not saying this is what happened, just that this guy was pretty much laying his reputation on the line and correlating it to the known facts of the Quantas incidents and this incident.

[LCHIEN]

As the OP, I know this is a family publication.

Apparently the pilots were able to get a message off that indicated some problems and equipment on the airplane that communicates with the maintenance people stopped working. When this happened, I imagine they were at cruise altitude (30,000 feet or so) and about three hours into their flight.

Apparently there's so little information that even speculating on the cause is...speculative.

ACtually the news report was that it was an automated message from the airplane reporting electrical failure and cabin pressure loss. I didn't know that planes did this automatically. THe pilots never sent a word, at least, that was received by anyone.

They may never recover the black box(es) from this one.

[radhak]

L o s t ..

[jackellis]

ACtually the news report was that it was an automated message from the airplane reporting electrical failure and cabin pressure loss. I didn't know that planes did this automatically. THe pilots never sent a word, at least, that was received by anyone.

Yes, they do phone home. The idea is that problems can be investigated before the airplane arrives and the right parts and people can be ready to do whatever is necessary. Lots cheaper than having to put up 200 people overnight because the airplane sits broken in Timbuktu.

I have a relatively low tech gadget in my airplane that monitors engine health - cylinder head temps, exhaust gas temps, oil temp, battery voltage, turbine inlet temp. I can download the data and use it to diagnose problems. More importantly, I can spot certain kinds of problems before they become catastrophic (burned valves come to mind) and require an off-airport landing.

[Uncle Cracker]

Cabin pressure loss could mean that everyone was rendered unconscious before any human-initiated message could be sent (remembering Payne Stewart). And the news reports of two separate debris fields some 35 miles apart could mean that the plane broke apart in midair.

[scmhogg]

I was amazed to read that there is no radar coverage over much of the Atlantic. The diagram in the LA paper showed that nearly two thirds of the distance between South America and Africa are not covered.

Steve