A typical cellular antenna does not radiate upward at all:
As you can see above, the vertical pattern is a narrow beam toward ground (from the height of the tower.) The intent is to deliver power to where the customers are.
Posted on 03/25/2015 5:11:16 PM PDT by varialectio
PARIS — As officials struggled Wednesday to explain why a jet with 150 people on board crashed in relatively clear skies, an investigator said evidence from a cockpit voice recorder indicated one pilot left the cockpit before the plane’s descent and was unable to get back in.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
descent profile looks like autopilot... probably just input a descent rate on the Mode Control Panel (MCP) or whatever its called in Airbusese.
I am speculating.
Here from CNN:
Hundreds of French firefighters and police officers are involved in the recovery effort in the Alps. Searchers have so far retrieved the cockpit voice recorder, one of the plane’s two “black boxes,” said Cazeneuve, the French interior minister.
The debris at the crash site is not characteristic of a plane that exploded in flight; it suggests the plane hit the ground and broke apart, said Remi Jouty, the head of BEA, the French aviation investigative arm that is leading the crash probe.
The cockpit voice recorder, which is designed to capture all sounds on a plane’s flight deck, is damaged but not beyond use, he said.
Investigators have managed to hear some audio from it, Jouty said.
Hollande said the outside frame of the second “black box” — the flight data recorder — has been found, though not the recorder itself. The flight data recorder stores a vast array of parameters about the aircraft.
Why wouldn’t our secret muslim Pres. be pleased?
He supports the Muslims but doesn’t want their evil acts looked upon negatively.
A typical cellular antenna does not radiate upward at all:
As you can see above, the vertical pattern is a narrow beam toward ground (from the height of the tower.) The intent is to deliver power to where the customers are.
The DFDR (black box) is located in the tail of the aircraft... can’t be disabled as far as I know (for exactly this reason). ADS-B data was received all the way down... that is broadcast position/speed/altitude. Easy to just not respond to ATC... no need to turn the radio off, just don’t reply. I’d not be surprised if the guy on the flight deck set the plane into descent and offed himself, but it sounds like the normal operation of the door would prevent this scenario.
And PEGIDA will have..... a response.
I keep waiting for the last straw for Europeans.
I am going to go with a chechen this time.
Wasn’t there a crash recently where the passengers were texting their final goodbyes?
Apparently not in Europe. Just American policy.
Excellent. Thanks for the laugh.
Airplanes are now being equipped with onboard micro-cellular sites and wi-fi equipment, which is then bridged to the ground - or to a satellite - via special data modems. You can find more technical information here, for example.
All equipment inside the airplane can be disabled by the pilot at any time. Legitimate needs include time on the ground, time without passengers, saving power (if flying with less than a full set of generators,) and short or fire.
I flew on a private airplane some years ago from San Jose to San Diego. The captain told us that cell phones stop working pretty fast, but we are welcome to try if we want to. We did try - and indeed they lost signal as we climbed to a few thousand feet, if not earlier. Modern cellular infrastructure is highly optimized, and not much power is wasted.
Ahh, okay. Since this was an older plane for short trips it likely didn’t have the micro-cell sites and Wi-Fi.
The door lock switch in the A320 has 3 positions:
UNLOCK - obvious
NORM - door can only be opened using the correct code/procedure, known by both pilots and a senior FA
LOCK - door can’t be opened at all for a preset time of 5 to 20 minutes.
Switch is normally in NORM during flight, allowing only authorized people with the code to get in.
LOCK is only to prevent a hostage situation where a hijacker would force a crew member to reveal the door code. LOCK position thwarts this.
Under normal circumstances, a heart attack would not prevent cockpit access. The switch would be in NORM, and the door can be opened.
So, this was not normal.
It will be interesting to hear the recording — “Mohamed, don’t do this! Let me in! (in German of course!)”
Drudge jumps the shark with his headlines, yes, this is major but we don’t know too much more. We probably won’t ever find out the truth just like in the other cases.
Good one!
Chinese pilot #1107082, Aning Wong or Anning Wong, flying from LEBL (Barcelona) to EDDL (Düsseldorf) at FL380 filed. Status, um, incomplete. Link. If vatstats.net is a hack, I'm impressed at how quickly it came together.
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