Netflix has a Nova Special, "Crash of Flight 447". It's an hour long in case anyone is interested.

"Oops, my bad!! Sorry about that Captain"

http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/09/29/wrong-button-sends-ana-jet-upside-down/

58Skylane wrote:"Oops, my bad!! Sorry about that Captain"

http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/09/29/wrong-button-sends-ana-jet-upside-down/

So he is 38 years old with 35,000 hours flight time? He's been flying 1000 hours a year since he was 3????

Dumbass reporters.

The rudder trim on a 737 is a knob, about 2" in diameter which is nothing like the door lock release. Something smells, probably the reporter.

Years ago there was a similar incident on a US carrier caused by a flight attendant who came to the flight deck, sat in the jump seat and put one of her feet up on the center console. She happened to put the foot on one side of the rudder trim knob which cranked in enough trim to eventually limit out the autopilot aileron input (two axis a/p) which caused the A/P to throw in the towel. Subsequent roll was rather sporty.

Lots of knobs and leavers in an airplane. It's best if the operator knows what each one does.

Mr. Ed wrote:The rudder trim on a 737 is a knob, about 2" in diameter which is nothing like the door lock release. Something smells, probably the reporter.

Years ago there was a similar incident on a US carrier caused by a flight attendant who came to the flight deck, sat in the jump seat and put one of her feet up on the center console. She happened to put the foot on one side of the rudder trim knob which cranked in enough trim to eventually limit out the autopilot aileron input (two axis a/p) which caused the A/P to throw in the towel. Subsequent roll was rather sporty.

Lots of knobs and leavers in an airplane. It's best if the operator knows what each one does.

A similiar incident with USAir at LGA

The jumpseater was a pilot. He rested his foot on the electric rudder trim knob during/prior to take off. The resulting out of trim caused a loss of control on take off. The attempted abort ended up as an overun into the bay at LaGuardia, New York Airport. It took the NTSB some time to discover how the rudder came to be out of trim and why the pilots missed that fact.

Subsequently the FAA required a modification. Guards about 1 inch high were installed on either side of the "electric trim knob" making it difficult to bump and cause accidental trim inputs. Other Boeing aircraft....757/767/etc. had the same mod.

Bob

Gotta agree with Eddie, the whole store smells. 35,000 hours? confused the door release and the rudder trim long enough to cause an upset? Very highly experienced?

I had an identical incident about two weeks before US Air went into the water at KLGA. My airline's policy at the time was for the flight deck door to remain open until just prior to takeoff. Routinely the first F/A would sit on the tiny jumpseat behind the captain's seat. On my flight the first did just that and placed a foot on the back of the center console. Inadvertently she pressed her foot against the, then, blade shaped trim selector. As we approached the end of the runway I felt my feet moving very slowly apart. It took a moment to realize what had happened and I corrected the trim settting. It could have been flown that way, but would have required a lot of rudder pressure until the trim had been centered. I filed a report of the incident and the potential problems which it could have caused if not caught. Shortly after the US Air crash, combined with several reports from other carriers the AD was issued requiring the changes to the knob and the console lip.

Automation overload, good.

Great video, Rob. I enjoyed it. Thanks for posting it.

So why do all these people have to put their feet up. Just make a rule saying your feet belong on the floor, period. If someone gets in my car and puts their feet on the dash---they're in trouble.

New Popular Mechanics article regarding Air France crash.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/print-this/what-really-happened-aboard-air-france-447-6611877?page=all

RanchPilot wrote:New Popular Mechanics article regarding Air France crash.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/print-this/what-really-happened-aboard-air-france-447-6611877?page=all

Thanks for the link.....

Ben.

NOVA
http://movies.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movi ... id=3990682

Very interesting, this was done before the black boxes were found. The experts nailed it! I learned some things I didn't know.

In the year before the crash there was 32 pitot failures.
In the months before ABus were failing a 1 a week, AB was in the midst of upgrading them.
The NOVA show had a demo of what happens when a pitot comes in contact with super cooled large drops. Holy crap never seen that!

All they had to do was set 5% climb at 85% power, DONE!!

In similar emergency's the crews were very slow to take manual control of the throttles. The gauge is out of the scan so to speak, not right in front of you.

At a reduced power setting for entering turbulence they were not at 85% thrust. If they pitched up to 5% it would stall, which is what happened.

The experts also said a smaller TS probably hid the larger storm from on board radar.

The experts also said automation overload and lack of manual piloting skills were a factor.

Good day

ABC/Nightline is doing a report on AF 447 right now.

L-19 wrote:ABC/Nightline is doing a report on AF 447 right now.

Yep, looks like the pilot was chasing the kittens

http://news.yahoo.com/air-france-captai ... ories.html

My best friend used to fly with me on a regular basis. One day he made this comment, " The difference between a car and a plane is, in a plane, everything you touch does SOMETHING!"

When that plane hit the water, the only thing that was wrong (with it), was the pilots didn't know how to fly!
Get used to it.
The airlines don't care about you, they care about getting 20 miles per gallon as opposed to 19!
Computer programmers are cheaper to hire than Pilots!