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Originally Posted by Skybird
1. lightning strike usually is not dagerous for an airplace, since it is pretty much a Faraday-cage and the energy harmlessly dances on the skin and disappears if there is no contact to the ground, you get some scratches in the painting eventually, and that'S it.
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yup.. like this image sent to me by a Captain i used to fly with quite a lot
looks harmless enough... put it right on a fuel tank or one of the electrical motors responsible for Aileron or Elevator deflection - say that it jams in a full travel position... then what? you just roll or pitch uncontrollably.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
2. An airliner at FL300 and higher, can soar for around 150-220 km, if all engines fail. That leaves one of the pilots the time to contact ground control.
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unless you use the struck fuel tank scenario... a lightning strike severe enough as the one above makes contact with fuel vapor in a half empty wing and... KABOOM... you have about enough time to think "WTF" before your finished.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
3. All vital electric systems have 3 and 4 backups. Additional to the engine generators (each engine it's own egnerator), there is the RAM air turbine, and battery. All vital ciorcuits can take over duties from damaged curcuits, the system is designed to be redundant.
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correct, the ram air turbines will manage electrical signal to emergency systems (standby instrumentation, and comms and flight controls generally) but lets say that the primary motor that drives the ailerons or elevators is struck - jammed into a specific position - then what? what if the fuel tank scenario plays out... electrical power means nothing at that point. the fuel tank scenario is rare, it has only happened a couple of times in history... but why couldnt it happen in this case?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
I take it as a given that there must have been more happening than just a lightening strike. Whatever happened, it must have happened incredibly fast, leaving the pilots no time to react or to communicate.
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Pilots live by a three step process that determines their course of action in a tense situation 1. Aviate First 2. Navigate Second 3. Communicate third.
Im sure your 100% right about the situation happening so fast they couldnt communicate, but the primary focus of any
experienced pilot is going to be to fly the airplane first - communicate his plight second... the worse the situation - the more true this becomes. so even if they had a couple of minutes it would not surprise me if they made no transmissions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
"Software error" I have very high on my list. Or mid-air-destruction by exploding fuel or engine, or explosive cabin depressurization, which still leaves the question of what caused it. My focus is not so much on lightning, but turbulences. Maybe the plane simply lost an airwing that broke away, or the tail, for example. On the other hand the plane was young, and had undergone a routine major maintenance pitstop just weeks ago.
While currently there is being seen a link between the heavy weather zone they were passing, and the accident, this does not rule out that the weather had nothing to do with it - it could have been a bomb, too, so it is too early to rule out terrorism or organised crime.
Doing research at location is difficult, and maybe we will never learn what happened. If the wreck lies too deep in the water, the blackbox maybe will never be found.
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Im in complete agreement here
