Posted on 06/09/2009 10:37:51 AM PDT by mycloudburst
I just finished listening to a podcast where an avionics engineer goes over the final messages sent by the Air France Flight 447 plane before it crashed.
The error messages sent by the plane show that multiple computer failures happened simultaneously, starting at 02:10 GMT, when a series of 14 warnings and failures emerged at once.
Addison Schonland, president of Innovation Analysis Group, and Michael Ciasullo, IAG's managing director of consulting services, led the podcast discussion. The engineer, who went only by Darryl, and his interviewers were careful not speculate.
Darryl is introduced as an engineer familiar with the the Honeywell ACARS system. His full name is not given because of the sensitivity over the crash, Schonland said. He does not work for Air France or Airbus.
He explains each ACARS message line by line. The ACARS is the aircraft's communications addressing and reporting system, which sends short pieces of data to other aircraft and satellites. When investigators talk of the "automatic messages" that give clues as to why the plane crashed, they are referring to the ACARS messages.
(You can see the ACARS for Flight 447 here. PDF.)
The cryptic lines contain chilling meaning.
First, the auto pilot system disengaged. Then came a basic auto flight message warning. Next, something within the flight control computer failed. Then, warning flags appeared on the personal flight displays of the captain and co-pilot. Then the rudder exceeds the limits of normal flight. And on it goes.
"With all of these failures, they don't have the information that they need to fly the aircraft in a safe environment," Darryl says. "If the pilot or first officer don't have any display functioning, then they're flying blind in the night. ... You're trying to fly the aircraft with no technology."
The last message received is a cryptic "213100206ADVISORY" warning at 02:14 GMT. It indicates loss of cabin pressure.
"There's so much going on, the pilots don't know what to do other than take a hold of the stick and fly the aircraft, because the airplane is not flying itself," Darryl said. "If this was happening in a clear day in the middle of the day, you'd still be in serious trouble, but at least you'd know if you were climbing or descending."
(Listen to the 99-cent podcast.)
Update: 11:10 p.m.: Schonland says he's making the podcast available for free as a public service.
Air France Bomb Threat Before Flight 447 Crash
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,524835,00.html
Brazil Detains Suspected al-Qaeda Member
A suspected al-Qaeda member has been taken into custody by Brazilian authorities in a case shrouded in secrecy, police said Tuesday.
-snip-
Brazil is home to one of the largest Arab populations outside the Middle East, with most living in Sao Paulo and in Foz do Iguacu, a hotbed of smuggling and contraband in the so-called Tri-Border region near Argentina and Paraguay.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900997,00.html
Airbus A330 = Dangerous POS
Air France should have cancelled the flight going through at least 1,000 miles of huge cumulonimbus storms. If you cannot go around - CANCEL.
That’s my current conclusion too.
nonsense:....that flight was a regular daily flight, flown 1000s of times....your rant is an effort to deflect from the real cause...
I’ll insert a new speculative conjecture. Perhaps the Jihadists have developed a method to interfere with the computers on planes. The Airbus would be an inviting target since it has no hydraulic backup.
Hmm....
To me this is the key piece of information here, especially considering that the Vertical stabilizer was found intact, and with the history of the Airbus Rudder/tail failure in NYC. I would be willing to bet when all is said and done, that in the end they will find that for whatever reason, the same type of thing happened as happened in NYC - either the pilot, the comupter or both over compensated or attempted to brute force a turn and the tail snapped off.
The last message in the PDF is that the rudder reached its limit of travel. This is consistent with the recovered tail photos showing the lower part of the rudder (which I’d guess connects with the actuator) ripped off. That could have easily been the last part of the tail attached to the plane.
Other planes successfully completed flights near the time this occurred. And to be accurate the Airbus A330 is not any worse than other planes out there.
So all these major system failures occurred at one time. sounds like a bomb to me.
The plane broke apart at altitude. A stall would not cause that. A serious thunderstorm could potentially but probably not.
The pilot reported turbulence but I didnt get the impression he said the plane was in danger of coming apart.
This does not look good.
Not a ringing endorsement.
According to the above, there were several failures before the rudder message.
I am pretty much in agreement in that a simple solution is likely correct. The proximate cause is reduced to overstress on under designed connections
Mike
“I’ll insert a new speculative conjecture. Perhaps the Jihadists have developed a method to interfere with the computers on planes. The Airbus would be an inviting target since it has no hydraulic backup.”
Time to start rounding up all those computer science students of ME appearance, and the ones already working in I.T. also.... We’re going to need a bigger gitmo, MUCH bigger!
The article is extremely unclear on that point. It says "all at one time," and then discusses the failures in a manner that seems far more consistent with the earlier reports that they were strung out over several minutes.
I doubt that "Darryl," who has no connection with Airbus or Air France, has inside information. The "simultaneous" claim is suspect.
Ahhhh, that's just what they want you to think! (/shifty eyes...)
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