DaveReidUK replied:
Loose rivets
"I almost started this thread after reading the BBC 'paper' on my FireFox tab. I didn't because it was filled with a LOT of technical misinformation. In particular, they'd gone to the trouble of nose angle drawings but as was so often the case, got muddled with simple pitch and AoA measurements."
That's grossly unfair to the BBC.
Hardly. A slight prod perhaps. In my view, well deserved.
Secondly, the infographic you object to has been kicking around for a couple of years. While it's an oversimplification in that it uses the term "angle" without explaining whether it's AoA or pitch attitude,
Perhaps if it's been kicking around that long it's high time someone prodded them. Not to explain that it's AoA or pitch attitude seems to be missing a major point. But, the nice but inappropriate drawings.
. . . that's perfectly reasonable given (a) the target audience and . . .
I think the questioningly intelligent target audience might be lifted to a new level if the BBC could regain some of its old standards. They do after all have Pulitzer prizewinning articles to refer to. But then you say,
(b) the fact that the distinction is arguably irrelevant in the context of the MCAS failures.
Well, if it's irrelevant, they put a huge amount of effort into getting it not really correct.
Whirligigs or what have you. I think the fisherman's reel is possibly the best way of explaining to the layman the unloading of the H-Stabilizer cable run. Hauling on the luckless fish is interrupted by sharply lowering the rod and reeling in the line while slack. It's easy to imagine this being needed numerous times. A reminder about the Toronto 707 might well focus the reader's minds about historic difficulties.