Destroyed jet engine due to bird strike. Aircraft on takeoff phase, 50 ft. AGL, 140 knots.
Fort Frances, Ontario (1994). Crash on takeoff resulting from engine damage caused by gulls.
Destroyed jet engine due to bird strike. Aircraft on takeoff phase, 50 ft. AGL, 140 knots.
Fort Frances, Ontario (1994). Crash on takeoff resulting from engine damage caused by gulls.
1. He won't bid the Airbus. Says the computer will override the Captain in extreme situations and will not allow you to fly out of extreme danger situations.
2. The pin that holds the rudder on is made of plastic composite. It was done instead of aluminum because it is lighter weight and just as strong. However, Captain says, the failure of such material is poorly understood. It can degenerate from UV light, hence it can only be painted white. It can go fine for five years or so and then suddenly go from 99% strength to 20% without warning.
3. Most American Airline airbus planes are flying to the Islands because they can haul large cargo packages and are money makers on those routes even without passenger loads. They aren't flying many or any other routes.
4. The planes that were recently retired from AA fleet due to cutting routes were Boeing planes that were scheduled for retirement in the next couple years anyway, but could be brought back to replace airbus planes if AA grounds the airbus fleet. Look for that to happen.
5. He conjectures that the rudder started to come loose from failure of the Von epoxy (whatever I can't remember) material of the pin, and it was the rudder flapping that causes the airframe shudder, not wake turbulence. Then the torque of finally losing the rudder completely stressed the plane to the point that the engines came loose and one maybe took a wing with it. The Captain couldn't override the computer to do the drastic action necessary to regain semblance of control in those circumstances.