Salient questions are raised by
Rainboe and
Loose rivets.
Originally Posted by
Rainboe
I'm interested in why these rudder reversals took place, and what caused this pilot to think this was a valid way of controlling the aeroplane in a violent wake encounter. The whole accident comes down to either
-a fatal fin defect causing it to come off in flight, or
-a fatal flying technique by the pilot.
The flight recorder showed why the fin failed under overcontrol. So why did the pilot fly like this?
I think to have a better understanding one would have to go back further into the F/O’s flying career. There is that one suspicious account when flying the B-727 where both the Captain and the F/E remember him being quick to use massive rudder applications in an attempt to either maintain or, perhaps, from his perception, regain, control of the aircraft after having encountered wake turbulence. Determining why this particular incident was not followed might be an interesting effort – but perhaps the Captain and F/E believed the issue was isolated and had been properly addressed. I would wonder if any instructor or check airman ever noticed similar tendencies from this young man. It would be interesting to find out from the instructor who administered the AA Advanced Maneuver Training to this F/O if he demonstrated any tendency to “over control” the rudder during that training.
Originally Posted by
Loose rivets
As I monitor this thread, I still have an uneasy feeling about the chicken and egg logic of the argument. To quote myself.
How sure are they, that the FP's input was not increasing because of an already developing structural failure? The feedback may have been so modified, that he was reaching further and further for a familiar response.
This still nags at my thinking on the subject.
Of course one would have to acquire the services of a more experienced FDR reviewer than me, but from the animation of the FDR recordings, it is relatively clear that after the first several rudder applications the airplane was responding as it should – given the fact that the applications were full throw – and then reversed. The airplane was responding to the pilot’s inputs in all three axes – at least up to the time when the data feed ceases. I would think that any developing structural failure would have been noticed in either the airplane
failing to respond to control input, OR it would have been responding to vertical fin/rudder displacements that
were not called for by the pilot. However, neither of these situations is evident in the data available.
http://www.ntsb.gov/Events/2001/AA58...path_web01.wmv