Saudi Arabian Airlines MD-90 complete hydraulics failiures

[zoheb]

2 weeks back saudia (sv) md-90 flying locally coming back to King Abdul Aziz Int Airport declared alert 2 emergency by the captain,

it is still not clear what was the cause of the incident but sources say that it was due to complete hydraulics failiure but the landing was safe and no casulties were reported.... tho its was not on news, the internal sources reported about the incident....

thats all i got at the moment but will soon post new updates.
chao

[Halfnut]

Yawn.

In the DC-9 a complete hydraulic failure is a non-event. Run the checklist while burning your fuel down to around 7000 to 8000 lbs. Ask for a long final to the longest runway. Stay on glide slope, don’t float in the flare and don’t balloon. Just fly it onto the runway. Roll to the end and stay off the binders if you can.

Once again a non-event in the Douglas Cable Car.

[cactusbusdrvr]

Hoo boy, not in Sparky the Wonderjet (A320 family). You lose all hydraulics and you are a lawndart. "Fly by wire die by fire'. (an old F 16 mantra)

[Earl]

I asked about this today, no one in Training has any knowledge of this happening, will enquire further.
I am sure that if this happened it would be the talk of the airline.
Alert 2 emergency? where is that written?
Probably a big improvment over the rumours been voiced now.

[Intruder]

Hoo boy, not in Sparky the Wonderjet (A320 family). You lose all hydraulics and you are a lawndart.
They forgot to tell that to the pilots who landed the DHL 'bus after taking a SAM over Baghdad...

[skyrabbit]

errrr......that was a rather old steam driven A300 :hmm:


Rabbs ;)

[zoheb]

earl ...

well the news was from ppl working at jeddah airport in SAR department..

so those ppl informed me and asking related questions

ru saudia staff ???

[Earl]

I am a instructer here.
We would know about this ASAP.
Since it would invove many people if this were to happen.
Sometimes ground personel hear of an emergency being declared and the story gets really big, blown out of shape.
When the real picture comes out then they find out that maybe only one Hyd system was lost and the crew had to do some alternate procedures for gear and flaps etc.
Declaring an emergency based on the Captains decision is normal.
Better safe than sorry.
Will post if I hear anything more but have my doubts.
Worked for this airline for many years, covering things up is not their operating history.
One of the major reasons I returned here.
We can say a lot of crazy things about here, but this is not one of them.

[zoheb]

earl ..

thanx alot for that .. i totaly agree in SA making small thing big .. maybe thats the possibility ..

so u living in jeddah me too ... just waiting for vacancies to arise in saudia and also trying in the new coming private airline from NAS

if u can pls give me some advise ,..

thanx

[411A]

Let us not forget that SV had a tire explode in the wheel well of a TriStar many years ago, and all that was left was one half of system 'D'...all the rest, goodbye.
Yet this young lad landed the aeroplane OK (yes, it had to be the First Officer..the Captains column was unserviceable, under this scenario)...and all lived to fly another day.

No bent metal either.

Training is quite complete at SV...make no mistake.

His comments later on...."I was only doing my job, nothing more."

Sounds reasonalbe to me.

PS: Had this been a DC10...most would be dead as a doornail.
4 hydraulic systems vs three...makes all the difference.

[punkalouver]

>Training is quite complete at SV...make no mistake.

About 15 years ago I did some flying on a single engined plane as a safety pilot with a student from Saudi Arabia. His IFR skills were terrible and not really improving. He also tried to select the gear up instead of the flaps on a touch and go in a light twin but the instructors karate chop on his arm saved the day. he was known to have weak piloting skills. Apparently he got hired by Saudia as an F/O on the 737 not long afterward.
411A, did you find that there was a different standard for the locals?

[411A]

Nope, no special treatment, in fact, the younger First Officers are put thru the wringer, and no BS allowed.

[Few Cloudy]

Well let´s see - I am not sure what changes were made to the hydraulic systems when the MD-90 came along. There was certainly more redundancy built in when the MD-80 series replaced the basic DC-9.

It takes a quirky combination of failures to get a complete hydraulic failure on the MD-80 family (ask a sim instructor) so I would be very interested to hear the technical details when available. And by the way, so easy to approach it aint - with an unusual pitch angle, high speed and very low or no flare - not to mention the pulse...

[Joyce Tick]

Well - easy for some, not so easy for others.

[typhoonpilot]

I used to train Saudia pilots on the MD-90. The complete hydraulic failure is a non-normal that is taught to every pilot on the airplane. As others have said, you still have the cables for flight controls and the gear will free fall. The Vref would be about 180 knots. I would not say that it is a non-event because the approach speed is very high and it is possible to botch the approach, but it is something the pilots have done before in the sim.

I found the Saudia Captains to be very competent. The younger F.O.s were mostly good, their problems tended to be attitude driven versus mechanical ability driven.

Typhoonpilot