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Old 11th Jul 2019, 18:40
  #213 (permalink)  
Lonewolf_50
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
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@henra: while the coincidence would be unusual, think about the harsh reality of the Pitch black moonless night. 2 AM in the morning over flat sea, possibly sub- optimum lighting for transition into the dark - and you lose the tail.
Not just that the TR stops turning (tough enough at night wil no visual reference and not a lot of altitude) but the tail boom.
(Based on a mishap from some years ago, (different aircraft type) as the main fuselage swaps ends the airspeed drops rather quickly ... that lateral separation might not be so out to lunch. Depends a lot on wind, and other factors)

That's a hard emergency procedure to train for with VMC as the assumed environment. At night with no horizon? degree of difficulty goes way up.
I'd expect that the upset would be hard to deal with for even the best pilots, when we toss in the surprise factor ...
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