tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post1296059640227817458..comments2024-03-13T09:47:40.487+00:00Comments on Cockpit Conversation: Cavalry ChargeAviatrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13634111275860140084noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-68280765295451216832022-12-18T13:51:02.380+00:002022-12-18T13:51:02.380+00:00Funny... I mess with flight simulators and am inte...Funny... I mess with flight simulators and am interested in things like this... I was reading the cockpit transcript for Flight 447, and was very interested to know if the autopilot disengage warning in an Airbus sounds like a cavalry charge from a bugle. So I googled "cavalry charge airplane" and yours was the first hit. :-P Didn't answer my question, but thanks anyway!Merchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04240776360170292536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-15662085009945416082009-06-18T20:17:33.494+00:002009-06-18T20:17:33.494+00:00@ mattheww50: I love the note on checks by inspect...@ mattheww50: I love the note on checks <i>by inspection</i>, also known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_problem" rel="nofollow">Fermi problems</a>. They are such a wonderful tool of cross-checking data produced by computers which may be in garbage-in-garbage-out mode.zbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-14417438679191786952009-06-16T13:34:33.492+00:002009-06-16T13:34:33.492+00:00One of the things that I find very disturbing is w...One of the things that I find very disturbing is we have now had several accidents with very bad outcomes where there were precursor events where such a bad outcome was narrowly averted.<br /><br />However altering the equipment or the procedures to insure that these events do not recur has not been a priority.<br /><br />For example Concorde had several near disasters from tyre failures on takeoff, yet neither the tyres or related procedures were apparently updated to reflect the known hazards.<br /><br />The French knew quite will that the ATR had a serious problem with icing, well before the Rosemont accident, but there was apparently neither a warning, or a requirement for updated procedures, or changes in the design of the de-icing boots to address what was a known issue.<br /><br />We don't know the whole story on AF447 (and we may never), but among the ACARs messages, and previous incidents involving ADIRU SNAFU's, and Pitot tube issues it doesn't take a genius to recognize these issue could lead to disaster. Yet updating the procedures, and the equipment where a problem is known (The Thales Pitot tubes), or the Northrup-Grumman ADIRU, or the software seems not to have been a priority.<br /><br />Couple that with the belief that the automation has the infallability of the Pope, and you have a recipe for continued unpleasant surprises.<br /><br />As long as the industry accepts the Microsoft standard (it's OK it it periodically goes off the deep end) for the equipment, the equipment and software is going to continue to reach out and kill people. <br /><br />I spent much of the 1970's and 1980's in the Operating Systems software world. We were obligated to document every 'bug' that was presented to us, and if there was no fix, it required something known as a DKE (Documented Known Error), and someone very high had to sign off on all DKE's, otherwise everything had to have a committment to fix, and we actually published a document every month showing all known erros, fixes, and DKE's. Every customer received that tape every month.<br /><br />My last concern is that systems management has become a substitute for airmanship. There have been several accidents in the past few years with botched takeoffs.<br />Each of these accidents has involved a situation where the tech crew seems to lack any intuitive feel for the aircraft characterisitcs. For example the A340-500 accident at MEL. It is a given that any aircraft fueled and scheduled to fly a 7200+ mile mission is going to be close to MGTOW. So a TOW that is 100t under MGTOW is an impossiblity. It is also a given that high weight TOW involve Vr's that are on the order of 200kt in a widebody, so an engine derate, and low Vr are also red flags. I find it mind boggling that these guys had such a poor intuitive grasp of the realities of their aircraft that they proceeded using numbers that by inspection had to be wrong!<br /><br />I just don't see the committment fix or even public identify these issues, let alone document that problems. That is disturbing.<br /><br />As long as that remains the case, people are going to die in aircraft accidents that were probably preventable<br /><br />my thoughts anywaymattheww50https://www.blogger.com/profile/00898846687006155502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-45532164328510731192009-06-15T14:31:14.523+00:002009-06-15T14:31:14.523+00:00GPS gives a groundspeed. A GPS airspeed would have...GPS gives a groundspeed. A GPS airspeed would have to be based off of pitot-static information.<br /><br />An estimated calculation could be done from power settings and altitude or forecast winds but it wouldn't help in severe turbulence.Aviatrixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13634111275860140084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-46555081177748082532009-06-15T12:17:42.064+00:002009-06-15T12:17:42.064+00:00You mentioned that they used GPS: I would have tho...You mentioned that they used GPS: I would have thought it an obvious step for the aircraft systems to look at BOTH the airspeed given by the pitots and the airspeed given by GPS... a bit of intelligent programming (the pitot figures & GPS figures are substantially different, let's do something intelligent here...) could surely make these ocurrences more understandable to the pilots?<br /><br />It sounds like a very good reason for pilots to throw a $100 GPSr into the cockpit, as an independant cross-check. Ok, it's operation can't be 100% guaranteed, but could be a useful "crosscheck" against a built-in system which has SUDDENLY started giving wierd readings.paul bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-78056410644503827502009-06-14T18:32:17.843+00:002009-06-14T18:32:17.843+00:00I e-mailed him an advance copy. We bloggers commu...I e-mailed him an advance copy. We bloggers communicate behind the scenes, you know. We even have secret conventions. <br /><br />But I'm not sure Dave reads French.Aviatrixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13634111275860140084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-60680261828797447942009-06-14T18:02:21.816+00:002009-06-14T18:02:21.816+00:00I have reported you to
http://flightlevel390.blogs...I have reported you to<br />http://flightlevel390.blogspot.com/<br />Who, I believe, flies the airbus also.hawk205https://www.blogger.com/profile/12086708796092126795noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-24672612098503966122009-06-14T15:21:15.436+00:002009-06-14T15:21:15.436+00:00Couldn't think of what is was all about when I...Couldn't think of what is was all about when I read the header. Very informative yet scary post. 100 years of aviation and them birds are still brought down or at least put into grave danger by a little metal tube. I can see a lot of poor mechanics working very long hours around the world replacing pitot tubes in the near future.Sir Lukenwolfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01544339905924593918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-83072137675993064492009-06-14T06:03:37.632+00:002009-06-14T06:03:37.632+00:00Trix.
Thank you very much for this article. Very i...Trix.<br />Thank you very much for this article. Very interesting. I was watching "Planet Earth" just now on TV and they discussed an area of the earth's surface that is having serious changes in the magnetic field. Even the Hubble telescope has problems while traveling through this area referred to as the Atlantic Anomaly. It matches up perfectly with the flight path of the two Airbus incidents in your article. Hmmm! (key in the theme song from "Outer Limits") Ike.X-av8rnoreply@blogger.com