OK - I was going to resume the series of "Now Boarding..." Friday posts, but given the crash-landing at Heathrow yesterday, perhaps another time.
I know we're not supposed to speculate on the possible causes of the accident, but I can't help noting some interesting comments from passengers and eye witnesses. Two quotes from the BBC article here:
Passenger Jerome Ensinck said: "There was no indication
that we were going to have a bad landing. When we hit the ground, it
was extremely rough, but I've had rough landings before and I thought
'This is the roughest I've had'."
Antonio De Crescenzo, 52, from Naples in Italy,
said: "We were coming in to land but the plane felt like it should have
been taking off. The engines were roaring and then we landed and it was
just banging."
Several reports describe the pilot as saying that the plane suffered a 'complete loss of power' very shortly before landing. Given that both passengers and eye-witnesses on the ground describe the engines as being unusually noisy at the time, one has to assume he means electrical power - and by implication some or all control over things like the throttles.
It does not sound as though there was a "Brace" instruction.
Some initial reports suggested that the undercarriage had not been deployed, but those now look unfounded. It would have been weird indeed if the aircraft had been that close to touching down and the wheels were still up.
Thank goodness no-one was seriously hurt, and that whatever caused the problem did not happen while the plane was further out on its approach (and therefore still over London).
On a practical note, relieved passenger Mr Miles O'Flyte said:
"After we landed, as the undercarriage had been crushed and the hold doors had popped clean off their hinges, I was able to simply pick my bag out of the wreckage and carry on through customs. Not only was it the fastest I've ever cleared Heathrow on arrival, my luggage was also less damaged than usual."
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You're not taking the Heathrow baggage system entirely seriously, are you? ;-)
Posted by Toby Stevens on January 18, 2008 at 12:56 PM GMT+00:00 #
I couldn't put it better than this, really.
http://www.lyricsdepot.com/monty-python/im-so-worried.html
Posted by Robin Wilton on January 18, 2008 at 01:33 PM GMT+00:00 #
Was passenger Miles by chance sitting near Eco Nomi Seta?
Posted by Paul Madsen on January 18, 2008 at 01:53 PM GMT+00:00 #
Yep. Behind Trey Taybel, and next to Emma Gentsie-Exytt.
Posted by Robin Wilton on January 18, 2008 at 03:15 PM GMT+00:00 #
During final approach, a pilot is constantly adjusting his thrust in order to maintain a desired glideslope while holding a target airspeed. During the last couple minutes of an approach, there are typically as many increases as decreases. He'll increase thrust if headwind increases, if his previous configuration will put him below the desired glideslope, or if he changes configuration (deploys more flaps) and needs to compensate for the added drag.
A zero-thrust approach (dead-stick landing) is a special technique not usually used.
A news report I read, stated that the plane lost thrust in the final minutes to approach. I asked a friend, a light aircraft pilot, why the plan increases speed in approach rather than slowing down. His response....
Actually, during final approach and until the plane reaches the runway the plane generally does NOT slow down. The goal during this phase of flight is to hold airspeed constant at a particular published final approach airspeed for that type of plane. You use thrust not to change airspeed, but to change glideslope. Only when you are a few feet over the runway do you then slow down, by a combination of reducing thrust to idle and pitching up.
Posted by Jonathan Gershater on January 18, 2008 at 10:08 PM GMT+00:00 #
Sure - after all, as the plane approaches the (ideal) touchdown point, the glideslope narrows. One often hears the throttles being adjusted upwards or downward during this phase, as the pilot aims to keep the plane as near as possible to the centre of the descent cone.
As the plane's engines are generally much more effective than its 'brakes', the tendency will presumably be to slightly under-cook the approach speed, on the grounds that that is easier to correct than over-cooking it...
Posted by Robin Wilton on January 18, 2008 at 10:35 PM GMT+00:00 #