Disturbing news about AF447...

[alexpgp]

A post at the New Scientist about the report on what was contained in the AF447 "black boxes" recovered a little while ago caused my eyebrows to go up, because stalls (avoiding them, being aware of them if they do occur, and getting out of them) are one of those things that flying instructors hammer into your head almost as hard as, say, the proper technique for landing the aircraft.

As control was handed over the stall warning sounded, yet the pilot flying the plane decided to climb. A stall usually requires the nose to be dipped downward to gain airspeed and regain the missing lift. Yet AF447 climbed inexorably to its ceiling of 38,000 feet at a very high angle of attack of more than 35 degrees. With the stall warning sounding, the nose remained tipped upward. The plane stalled, losing altitude at 11,000 feet per minute. It fell for 3 minutes 30 seconds when it hit the water nose up 16-degrees and belly first...

One wonders... what did happen?

Cheers...

Comments

[vuzh.livejournal.com]

I read that too... it sounds like total mindless panic. You wouldn't expect that from someone so thoroughly trained as a pilot. I also read that both pilot and copilot were both operating controls at the same time. Really terrifying scenario.

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Surely it is.

OTOH, it does sound like an interesting setup for a UFO story, eh?

Cheers...