Posted on 09/11/2009 4:18:32 PM PDT by naturalman1975
AN Airbus A340-500 carrying 275 people vanished from sight and was invisible on airport radar screens immediately after a botched take-off at Melbourne airport, in which it came within seconds of disaster.
For a few terrifying moments, those on duty in the airport's control tower had no way of knowing the fate of Emirates Airlines flight 407 after it limped into the air and flew low over houses in the densely populated suburb of Keilor on March 20.
The Emirates plane, bound for Dubai, struggled to take off and then gain altitude after one of its pilots wrongly calculated the weight of the aircraft by 100tonnes.
The tail of the plane hit the runway five times before the captain ordered full thrust at the last minute to lift the Airbus over the airport perimeter fence, knocking out a strobe light and an antenna on the way.
A preliminary report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureaufound pilot error was to blame for the accident, which has been described as the closest Australia has come to a major airline disaster.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
Why does that old addage of "penny wise and pound foolish" come to mind?Easy; it's not all that simple. Overspeed/excessive thrust on take-off can can create issues too.
Is that ‘Jihad’ airways?
More information from the “Professional pilot Rumor and News” website:
http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/366754-ek407-tailstrike-ml.html
Includes pictures of the ‘tailstike’ (or multiple tail strikes actually)
Snopes is run by libs. They only refute right wing articles, etc. Most lib and commie articles will be “not certain”.
Consider the Tenerife airport disaster. The Captain took on a full fuel load, holding up other flights and then got impatient when the weather began to close in.
Many errors there, some to save time, some to save money. Saving money allows many to fly.
This incident appears not due to saving money or time. It was errors (pilots & crew).
Little guys go full throttle. Big guys don't. I've seen fighters kick in their afterburners after lifting off a runway. (They go straight up! The change in pitch is pretty impressive. I also saw this once about 3000 feet AGL. I couldn't see the change in pitch then but the f***ers went by me in just a few seconds; also quite impressive, and a bit scary.) I think if they did that while they were on the ground, they might melt the runway.
ML/NJ
Thanks for the link. Appears to be mostly Pilot/crew error.
The correct weights were available, cross checks were either not made or also made incorrectly.
The Pilot/Second had time in type. (not sure, was the Pilot also familiar with the airport?... regardless)
Pilot fatigue is only accountable to PIC.
No excuse for not reading the runway during V’s and keeping throttle back. Well, not in my experience. I am aware of fines/penalties for noise violations. I believe noise avoidance was a partial cause of the Concorde fail.
Among the airports I've "visited",I know that Boston's Logan Airport and Kingsford Smith have very strict noise abatement regulations...probably because they're both very close to large cities.It never occurred to me that takeoffs from airports like that might be done at less than full power.I find that *very* disturbing.
Tail Strikes in the A340 are a real problem, and this is far from the first. In fact, they are strengthened for tail strikes.
Exactly. The thrust is reduced on most takeoffs. Still, an average crew can sense when the takeoff is not accelerating normally. Airline operations attempt to maximize engine life by using reduced power settings ie matching the thrust to that necessary to lift the airplane safely given runway length, temperature, altitude, and possible obstacles. That greatly prolongs engine life and the manufacturer warranty.
Some conditions preclude reduced takeoffs—contaminated runway, tailwind, or missing panels on the airplane (increased drag) etc.
This is an overview—hope you can get a better picture.
“The takeoff warning horn was blaring away in the cockpit “
The story loses all credibility right here.
Yes, that is what I remember...
Interesting. Apparently there is a function built in to activate the warning when all throttles are place to full thrust. This happens even without the engines running and serves as a pre-flight check of the system.
I thought this was old and I heard about it a while back. March ‘09....
It is old ...
Thanks thanks.
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