Amish RakeFight
Registered Loser
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2005
- Posts
- 8,006
I wonder if we got anyone with some decent amount of A330 time here that could chime in? Just for discussion sake.
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I wonder if we got anyone with some decent amount of A330 time here that could chime in? Just for discussion sake.
Pretty self-explanatory, I thought, although probably not to someone who named himself after a stillborn German push-pull, but I digress.
...
I've done a fair amount of over-water flying. Many times late at night, the thunderstorms over the Atlantic and/or Caribbean are still towering to 50,000+ feet and have quite a bit of updraft/downdraft activity with heavy lightning but are NOT producing enough rain to give you a return on the radar. D*mn near stumbled into one in the Lear over the Gulf back in January coming back to Miami from Mexico, just a little over 100 miles offshore of Miami. I JUST happened to be looking outside (was looking for the outline of the coast at night - it's a nice sight) and the lightning highlighted enough of it for us to split the tops of two cells - we were at 43,000 feet, less than 10 miles from the cells when we caught it, the tops were another good 5k-7k above us. There was absolutely NOTHING on radar, at any tilt. We got lucky; if I had been inside the airplane continuously, we'd have bounced right into one of them.
This is all speculation which, as some posters have noted, is useless until the prelim comes out, assuming they ever find the FDR and CVR.
From my rudimentary knowledge of Airbus systems and RAT knowledge from the 3 aircraft I've flown that have one, probably no radar with a complete electrical failure (which is the only thing that SHOULD deploy the RAT - complete loss of AC power to the retaining mechanism on the firing pin with Weight Off Wheels).
However, that's not what gets my attention. There's a couple critical things in that information about the avionics failure chain, IF it's correct, that happened SO fast (less than 4 minutes from first ACARS burst), I wouldn't lean towards a radar malfunction being out long enough to let them wander into a supercell t-storm:
1. ISIS failure. That's a BIG problem. Integrated Standby Instrumentation System. This is ALL you have if you lose everything else. For the ISIS to go or at least have to reset itself, you'd have to have a BAD electrical system spike. The ISIS gets its power directly from its own internal battery, continuously trickle charged through one of the aircraft's primary electrical AC Buses as long as they have power. Even if primary AC power is lost, the battery should provide uninterrupted power to the ISIS. For whatever reason, it appears it may have faulted.
2. Primary and Secondary aileron flight control damper unit failure (PRIM1 and SEC1) with a simultaneous ADIRU failure (Air Data Inertial Reference Unit - what gives the Primary Flight Display your attitude, VSI, airspeed, and heading readouts among other things) fault and almost simultaneously with the ISIS fault (within 90-120 seconds according to that data stream) means that they were at least momentarily (and possibly longer) without ANY instrumentation. No PFD, no ISIS, nada, zero, zilch with a flight control problem...
3. All of that while trying to fight an airplane that had reverted to alternate law on the flight control systems? That would be eye watering enough without anything like severe turbulence associated with a thunderstorm to compound the problem.
I've done a fair amount of over-water flying. Many times late at night, the thunderstorms over the Atlantic and/or Caribbean are still towering to 50,000+ feet and have quite a bit of updraft/downdraft activity with heavy lightning but are NOT producing enough rain to give you a return on the radar. D*mn near stumbled into one in the Lear over the Gulf back in January coming back to Miami from Mexico, just a little over 100 miles offshore of Miami. I JUST happened to be looking outside (was looking for the outline of the coast at night - it's a nice sight) and the lightning highlighted enough of it for us to split the tops of two cells - we were at 43,000 feet, less than 10 miles from the cells when we caught it, the tops were another good 5k-7k above us. There was absolutely NOTHING on radar, at any tilt. We got lucky; if I had been inside the airplane continuously, we'd have bounced right into one of them.
Until (unless) we get the FDR and CVR data back, we won't know anything, but my gut instinct tells me they wandered into one of those by pure accident, radar on but no return...
I wasn't referring to your cute username but to your indecent somewhat xenophobic and derogative comment. With 34 years of age as you claim it is frightning to read a comment like this from an adult. I suggest you read Axel's well-put lines and think before you post your ignorance.
Regarding my username (if I need to explain myself) you better put in a little bit more research instead doing a quick read on Wikipedia. You sound so tough hiding behind your username, I'd like to meet you in the carpark next time I am in ORD or any other god-forsaken airport.
Moral of the story kid, use some common-sense and decency. Lots to learn you have ...
I am inches away however from giving flyboy a short term ban for a combination of reasons not the least of which is inappropriate language.
No, it's because you won't shut up and apologize for the tasteless comments when you REALLY NEED to shut up (a lesson I learned the hard way). It doesn't have anything to do with the aircraft you fly, it's about respect for the deceased and knowing when to STFU and leave well enough alone.Why am I being threatened with a ban for posting a (some say) tasteless joke, while those who resort to name-calling and open threats of violence in carparks are given a pass?
Oh yeah, it's because I drive an RJ, my bad.
p.s. If I was a mod you'd be locked out right now for 30 days and the other guys would receive a PM warning to quit with the fighting/language/threats and leave well enough alone or they'll get a FI vacation, too. You want to sling mud and make tasteless jokes on a thread that doesn't involve loss of life? Go knock yourself out. It doesn't belong here.
Why am I being threatened with a ban for posting a (some say) tasteless joke, while those who resort to name-calling and open threats of violence in carparks are given a pass?
Oh yeah, it's because I drive an RJ, my bad.
search a guy named TJSatter here: http://forums.flightinfo.com/showthread.php?t=121837&page=2
And you will see that it's not just RJ drivers that aren't appreciated when they make jokes or second guess a fresh accident while peoples wives and husbands are dying or dead.. I knew him from my time with Gemini and I can tell you he was not well liked there and his attitude has already lost him a good contract job subsequent to Gemini.
He already knows he's gonna be a comair lifer. That's reason enough to be disgruntled.