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no radio and no 7700 sound most suspicious, also the fact that the aircraft sounds like just dropping out of sky: no airfoil just drop out of sky if there were somebody or something in control
CNN has Richard Quest, Soucy, and a couple more aviation experts discussing the descent, 32,000 ft in 8 minutes. They seemed to agree that passengers, and possibly even the flight crew if distracted, might not notice this. Does that sound possible? They were discussing earlier today, that iced up pitot tubes could prevent instrumentation from detecting the descent but I've flown enough to recognize the slight power down, attitude change, and difference in G force, followed by the announcement---"we have begun our descent into Las Vegas" or wherever. It seems to me that going from 38,000 ft cruise altitude and speed to 6000ft impact would feel more like a deliberate dive than a routine descent?
If one assumes the auto pilot is in control and, and due to plugged pitot tubes, thinks it's maintaining cruise altitude / speed would it not result in drastically increased air speed if the plane was in a dive? Granted the same pitot tube issue might result in false readings to the pilots but would the speed increase be felt? Earlier today CNN had a graph up with 2 lines showing the flights speed and distance from takeoff to crash. I assume this was based on radar data? I can't remember if it showed increased speed during descent but none of the experts noted anything unusual. You can trade speed for altitude, or vice versa, that's pretty basic. If they descended 32,000 ft in 8 minutes, with no speed increase, they had to be throttled down to a point where it would be obvious!
During the late Cold War, I was on a USN ship off the Atlantic coast. The "CIC" officer came to the bridge to say that they had just received an airliner distress signal and a few moments later, an airliner, I think it was a 757, passed by very low, heading into the coast.
As I recall, I believe (it was quite long ago and in any event, I wasn't where the message was received) their emergency was about a passenger having trouble breathing and they needed to get to a lower altitude (& they did land safely).
So, as people go around speculating, keep in mind that things like distress and a quick descent, can happen.
I merely suggest posting with caution on a board where a sizable portion of the posters are aviation professionals.
I've have 40 years aviation experience, but know little about the systems of an Airbus A-320. I'm not going to attempt to match wits on a message board, where given the widespread use of said aircraft, the odds are good one will encounter those who fly or maintain them for a living.
glass_of_merlot, I can't speak for anyone else, but I didn't take your comments as trying to match wits with anyone. I have probably as much (or as little) knowledge of aviation as you. The field interests me; I worked in it for years, tho never as a pilot. I check out this board now & then to read not only the factual comments of "experts" - but their opinions as well. In that regard, opinions & comments from lay people like you & me are just as valid.
People caution against speculation... but really, that's a tall order in an aviation forum. Especially when the aviation- related events of the last year or so has left many questions still unanswered.
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Is it too early to think that one of the pilots did an "Allahu akbar!"? Or would that not fit the data? Perhaps like EgyptAir flight 990?
Quote:
.............The plane dropped 14,600 feet (4,500 m) in 36 seconds. Several subsequent "primary" returns (simple radar reflections without the encoded Mode C altitude information) were received by ATC, the last being at 06:52:05. At 06:54, the ATC controller tried notifying Flight 990 that radar contact had been lost, but received no reply.[1] Two minutes later, the controller contacted ARINC to determine if Flight 990 had switched to an oceanic frequency too early. ARINC attempted to contact Flight 990 on SELCAL, also with no response. The controller then contacted a nearby aircraft, Lufthansa Flight 499, and asked the flight's crew to try to raise Flight 990, but they were unable to make radio contact, although they also reported they were not receiving any emergency locator transmitter signals. Air France Flight 439 was then asked to overfly the last known position of Flight 990, but that crew reported nothing out of the ordinary. Center also provided coordinates of Flight 990's last-known position to Coast Guard rescue aircraft.[1]
Flight recorder data[edit]
The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) recorded the captain excusing himself to go to the lavatory, followed thirty seconds later by the first officer saying in Egyptian Arabic "Tawkalt ala Allah," which translates to "I rely on God." A minute later, the autopilot was disengaged, immediately followed by the first officer again saying, "I rely on God." Three seconds later, the throttles for both engines were reduced to idle, and both elevators were moved three degrees nose down. The first officer repeated "I rely on God" seven more times before the captain suddenly asked repeatedly, "What's happening, what's happening?" The flight data recorder reflected that the elevators then moved into a split condition, with the left elevator up and the right elevator down, a condition which is expected to result when the two control columns are subjected to at least 50 pounds (23 kgf) of opposing force.[1] At this point, both engines were shut down by moving the start levers from run to cutoff. The captain asked, "What is this? What is this? Did you shut the engines?" The captain is then recorded as saying ...... EgyptAir Flight 990 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Someone wrote the following in Der Spiegel regarding the A320 tragedy:
Comments are well meant, but useless! Inglenda2 Today at 11:29 AM
"For those who have suffered this terrible loss, no comment can ease the pain. We have to accept that our life is like a flame, it can be small or great, helpful or destructive, long or short, but in the end it will disappear, never to return. It is therefore all the more important, that we learn from this tragedy, the time to do something good is now, tomorrow may never come!"
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