Originally Posted by
Lonewolf_50
Question for those who fly the A320.
I note this.
They were likely startled by the loss of the engines, and they did not have much altitude to play with. (Much earlier in the thread we see a video clip as the plane goes down, with the nose up and wheels down as they reached the tragic end).
My question: with the gear up (in other words, had they left the gear up for longer once the engines were done) was there any chance that the aircraft would have reached the field rather than coming down in the residential area "1340 meters short from frunway 25L"?
(Yes, I do realize that landing on the engines with the wheels up poses other risks, and I am not sure how long it takes a startled crew to get the wheels down with most of the systems gone off line).
Ever since Sully's landing in the Hudson River I would hope that, now and again, crews are tested in the sims against a loss of both engines not too far from the ground (a few thousand feet) to see what the plane does and how far it can "stretch" with the engines gone.
Yes, that's the old training officer in me thinking through crew training. I ask because I don't know what gets thrown at A320 crews during sim sessions, and what the general feel is on how far one can 'stretch' a dead engines glide before one must commit to putting it down.
EDIT: I see a comment from 1549 thread that but I don't think you get all that unless you are going straight in. I think they had to turn back, or turn some amount, to get there once the engines stopped, since they were heading back for another approach ...
Can I repeat an earlier question? We will lack FDR data for the last couple of minutes of the flight. Are we likely to therefore lack any useful / important data for the investigation, and for recommendations? For example, we will lack precise data on whether that final glide could have been handled differently, with a somewhat different outcome. Yes, unlikely, I know......