Posted on 01/17/2009 12:22:13 PM PST by LibWhacker
Planes can float, but the US Airways Airbus A-320 that crashed into the Hudson River Thursday had a better chance than most.
That's because it was equipped with a special device unique to Airbus planes that increased the likelihood it would stay on top of the water.
The device, called a "ditching switch," effectively seals the plane by closing valves and ventilation ports, a spokesman for the airline said.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
It might be helpful to have one button to push to automatically seal all the places water could come in, but there are checklists for other aircraft to do the same things manually by the pilots.
whoever came up with that deserves a bonus.
“If it ain’t Boeing, I ain’t rowing”?
You’re kidding, right??
I don’t like Airbus,,,,At all. A subsidized Euro plane that it grpes me to see US flag carriers buy. I’m a *big time* Boeing fan.
But one button that says “Ditch” is a *damn sight* better than starting down a checklist. Also,, not everyone is as cool as “Rico Suave” who was apparently flying this bird. Anything that simplfies an emergency for the flight crew is just plain better.
The A-320 does meet ETOPS Standards.
Engines
Turn
Or
Passengers
Swim
This will comfort some Airbus passengers I am sure, but not all.
I said it was useful. It's much easier to implement an automatic ditching button on a fly by wire aircraft like the A320 than a 737.
**Otto pilot. **
??Who is Otto??
Now if they only had OnStar in the cockpit.
James Bernstein is guilty of spreading a new internet myth — that Airbus has something special to set up planes for a water landing. Even the Airbus spokesperson says so. Please read on ...
FReepers are good at wanting the truth. The truth is there is *not* a magic Airbus-only ditch switch. they do have said switch above the co-pilot, a little to the right of center, but SO DOES BOEING, and BAE, and GULFSTREAM etc etc.
The aviation expert talking heads are trying to dumb down the feature for the TV audience, and print media who can’t discern aisle from window are off base. First of all, ALL modern-era passenger jets can pressurize ( i.e., seal) the ‘bottom’ or cargo hold of the fuselage. Said ability to pressurize and also maintain temperature make the ‘bottom’ relatively air and/or water tight upon water landing. Whether Boeing, Bombardier or Airbus, all the jets will float because they structure is airtight enough to be pressurized, AND as you’ll read below, the crew can open/close the remaining vent ports (generic term for now). ( how else would pets in the hold survive a flight at 39,000’ and -65 degrees, if the crew could not maintain the atmosphere in the hold? )
Now, with regard to the so-called “ditch switch” on the Airbus (and Boeing, and BAE, and and ...) In the event of a impending water landing, the pilot can manually activate a switch, which closes the outflow valve and avionic ventilation ports, which are (generally) below the aircraft’s float line. All commercial airliners are required to have a ‘ditch switch’ according to Federal Aviation Administration regulations. The pilot or co-pilot must manually flip a switch which actives the port mechanisms. There is no magic to the Airbus design I am aware of.
For another source read:
“Mary Anne Greczyn, communications manager at Airbus, says a “ditch switch” is standard equipment on all modern Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The switch, which is mounted on an overhead panel in the cockpit, can be pushed by the pilot to close off openings on the outside of the plane before it hits the water.
“The switch closes off the outflow valve and the avionics ventilation ports — anyplace air would go in or out,” Greczyn says. Where air cold goes, so can water to flood the plane, so “it closes off openings below a theoretical float line.”
Pilot Ladd says that while the ditch switch is useful, opening the main doors and emergency exits on the plane to let passengers out would negate any impact that closing the valves would have, once the plane is down.
Fuel and air in the wings also probably kept the plane afloat for as long as it was, Ladd says. Since fuel and air are less dense than the river water, the wings helped buoy the plane. And because the wings are located slightly forward of the center of the fuselage, the front of the plane was slightly propped up while the tail began to sink.”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99476650
Also ...
If you fly a lot (as a passenger) the next time you land you may notice the cabin pressure in the cabin changes just before you touchdown on the runway — like 2 seconds before. It feels like a depressurization, and it is. The cockpit crew does this ... by opening ports. They are of course able to also close these ports from the cockpit. Planes have had to return to the airport because the mechanisms or seals fail, and the fuselage cannot maintain pressure/ be pressurized.
There are d@mn few accurate aviation reports in the general news media. Virtually ANYTHING from the AP or Reuters or your local beat reporter will be full of errors. Wait for Air and Space to publish the findings ;-)
Otto Pilot was the name of the inflatable automatic pilot in the movie ‘AirPlane!’.
forgot to put a public domain source for my post — http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/science_news/4299756.html
This covers the Airbus design.
Going to look for the 737 layout now.
Just to be clear, Airbus may have the ‘hot ticket’ because one switch covers several checklist items for securing ventilation. I may have to grant them that. But there’s a lot on the ditching checklist besides cabin ventilation.
When all is said and done, I wonder if they used the checklist or if the PIC did a perfect seat-of-the-pants water landing.
But still, all modern jets can seal* the fuselage from the cockpit.
*seal = close the vents and ports.
This is so true, this is the tool of the media, they will always find a focal point to drive on and on betting the public will go slack jawed and become hypnotized at the glorious benefits of modern technology.
They were dismayed it ended quickly with a rare amount of minor injuries and over within literally an hour.
Thus they were left hanging, they had to find something to keep the story going no matter how trivial.
Lets keep that in mind forever more especially with the upcoming usurper in the Whitehouse, I strongly feel that he will find topics or projects that are nothing but cotton candy. Magic glorious life saving manna from no less the emperor himself.
And nobody can survive on a straight diet of cotton candy.
Except ants, the ultimate socialistic society on earth.
Or anything else they cover.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.