Air France jet 'disappears' over Atlantic.

Steve wrote:

From today's New York Times:

"The Airbus 330 is a fly-by-wire plane, in which flight controls are
activated by electronics.


One needs to remember that, at least on the A320, there are still 2
control sufaces that can be manually activated. Can't remember which
ones, but they are supposed to allow a pilot to maintain some control
over aircraft for some time.

Probably not enough to survive a violent thunderstorm with turbulence.

Not sure if the 330 still has those manual controls. But they are gone
from the 380.

I think that there will be a huge amount of pressure to retrieve the
black boxes and get an idea of what happened. If it is lightning that
hit the aircraft, then FAA and others will want to know ASAP because
they are about to certify the 787 and later on the 350, both of which
have substantial composite structures.

"John Doe" wrote in message
...
Steve wrote:

From today's New York Times:

"The Airbus 330 is a fly-by-wire plane, in which flight controls are
activated by electronics.


One needs to remember that, at least on the A320, there are still 2
control sufaces that can be manually activated. Can't remember which
ones, but they are supposed to allow a pilot to maintain some control
over aircraft for some time.

Probably not enough to survive a violent thunderstorm with turbulence.

Not sure if the 330 still has those manual controls. But they are gone
from the 380.

I think that there will be a huge amount of pressure to retrieve the
black boxes and get an idea of what happened. If it is lightning that
hit the aircraft, then FAA and others will want to know ASAP because
they are about to certify the 787 and later on the 350, both of which
have substantial composite structures.

You'd think it would be possible now for the signals to the black box to be
also transmitted and recorded on land somewhere.

--
Bart

In article ,
"BartC" wrote:


You'd think it would be possible now for the signals to the black box to be
also transmitted and recorded on land somewhere.
The flight data recorders now monitor up to 300 different parameters.
The average flights foreign and domestic for US airlines alone run
around 25,000 DAILY. That is a heckuva lot of bandwidth.

--
The inevitable Godwinization of Usenet threads is a principle
as immutable as Newton's Third Law meaning that, for every action
there is an equally disproportionate overreaction.

"BartC" wrote:

"John Doe" wrote in message
...
Steve wrote:

From today's New York Times:

"The Airbus 330 is a fly-by-wire plane, in which flight controls are
activated by electronics.


One needs to remember that, at least on the A320, there are still 2
control sufaces that can be manually activated. Can't remember which
ones, but they are supposed to allow a pilot to maintain some control
over aircraft for some time.

Probably not enough to survive a violent thunderstorm with
turbulence.

Not sure if the 330 still has those manual controls. But they are
gone from the 380.

I think that there will be a huge amount of pressure to retrieve the
black boxes and get an idea of what happened. If it is lightning that
hit the aircraft, then FAA and others will want to know ASAP because
they are about to certify the 787 and later on the 350, both of which
have substantial composite structures.

You'd think it would be possible now for the signals to the black box
to be also transmitted and recorded on land somewhere.

With the amount of data being recorded in the recorders these days, it
would be an expensive proposition to transmit data using satellites for
the thousands of aircraft flying around the world at any given time.

Further, the satellite network is barely able to keep up with data
transmission today, resulting in significant delays. The need to collect
the data on the aircraft into blocks for transmission, then stand in line
for an open channel to transmit it to a satellite would mean that the
most recent and most critical data could easily be lost.

On Jun 4, 10:49*am, James Robinson wrote:
"BartC" wrote:
"John Doe" wrote in message
.. .
Steve wrote:

From today's New York Times:

"The Airbus 330 is a fly-by-wire plane, in which flight controls are
activated by electronics.

One needs to remember that, at least on the A320, there are still 2
control sufaces that can be manually activated. Can't remember which
ones, but they are supposed to allow a pilot to maintain some control
over aircraft for some time.

Probably not enough to survive a violent thunderstorm with
turbulence.

Not sure if the 330 still has those manual controls. But they are
gone from the 380.

I think that there will be a huge amount of pressure to retrieve the
black boxes and get an idea of what happened. If it is lightning that
hit the aircraft, then FAA and others will want to know ASAP because
they are about to certify the 787 and later on the 350, both of which
have substantial composite structures.

You'd think it would be possible now for the signals to the black box
to be also transmitted and recorded on land somewhere.

With the amount of data being recorded in the recorders these days, it
would be an expensive proposition to transmit data using satellites for
the thousands of aircraft flying around the world at any given time. *

Further, the satellite network is barely able to keep up with data
transmission today, resulting in significant delays. The need to collect
the data on the aircraft into blocks for transmission, then stand in line
for an open channel to transmit it to a satellite would mean that the
most recent and most critical data could easily be lost.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

parachutes

not one chute, perhaps beacoup chutes ready in the cargo-luggage
place, a button (or automatic doodad)
is pushed and as the cargo fallouts and jet fuel dumps,
simultaneously the now exterior chutes open, and when the
airplane flops into the drink or ground, ....yeah, probably a not
feasible fantasy, though didn't "they" nay- ay similar
about nearly everything invented throughout history

Robert Cohen wrote:

On Jun 4, 10:49 am, James Robinson wrote:
"BartC" wrote:
"John Doe" wrote in message
.. .
Steve wrote:

From today's New York Times:

"The Airbus 330 is a fly-by-wire plane, in which flight controls are
activated by electronics.

One needs to remember that, at least on the A320, there are still 2
control sufaces that can be manually activated. Can't remember which
ones, but they are supposed to allow a pilot to maintain some control
over aircraft for some time.

Probably not enough to survive a violent thunderstorm with
turbulence.

Not sure if the 330 still has those manual controls. But they are
gone from the 380.

I think that there will be a huge amount of pressure to retrieve the
black boxes and get an idea of what happened. If it is lightning that
hit the aircraft, then FAA and others will want to know ASAP because
they are about to certify the 787 and later on the 350, both of which
have substantial composite structures.

You'd think it would be possible now for the signals to the black box
to be also transmitted and recorded on land somewhere.

With the amount of data being recorded in the recorders these days, it
would be an expensive proposition to transmit data using satellites for
the thousands of aircraft flying around the world at any given time.

Further, the satellite network is barely able to keep up with data
transmission today, resulting in significant delays. The need to collect
the data on the aircraft into blocks for transmission, then stand in line
for an open channel to transmit it to a satellite would mean that the
most recent and most critical data could easily be lost.- Hide quoted
text -

- Show quoted text -

parachutes

not one chute, perhaps beacoup chutes ready in the cargo-luggage
place, a button (or automatic doodad)
is pushed and as the cargo fallouts and jet fuel dumps,
simultaneously the now exterior chutes open, and when the
airplane flops into the drink or ground, ....yeah, probably a not
feasible fantasy, though didn't "they" nay- ay similar
about nearly everything invented throughout history

Why?

--
William Black

Robert Cohen wrote:

parachutes

not one chute, perhaps beacoup chutes ready in the cargo-luggage
place, a button (or automatic doodad)
is pushed and as the cargo fallouts and jet fuel dumps,
simultaneously the now exterior chutes open, and when the
airplane flops into the drink or ground, ....yeah, probably a not
feasible fantasy, though didn't "they" nay- ay similar
about nearly everything invented throughout history

At one time "they" promised to turn lead into gold. We were also supposed
to have a family helicopter in every garage. I'm still waiting.

In article ,
James Robinson wrote:


At one time "they" promised to turn lead into gold. We were also supposed
to have a family helicopter in every garage. I'm still waiting.


And the corresponding con today is that we should take as a national
goal lofting people into space -- sending them to International Space
Station, to the moon, to Mars, and beyond.

In AES
wrote:

In article ,
James Robinson wrote:


At one time "they" promised to turn lead into gold. We were also
supposed to have a family helicopter in every garage. I'm still
waiting.


And the corresponding con today is that we should take as a national
goal lofting people into space -- sending them to International Space
Station, to the moon, to Mars, and beyond.

You could go to the moon or mars and have that helicopter in your garage
if you were willing to pay for it.

Of course with the space program you don't have the choice of not paying
for it.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN