Clean Wing Concept
Hi everybody
The logo on the tail of this A340 is not an issue here. Those people were licenced airline pilots (I hope so...). However, according LTD, fact seems to be that this flight crew ( 2 or more, whatever) of an airliner failed in applying a proper risk management and put their passengers lifes at an unnecessary risk.
Wheather this was/is based on bad training, ignorance or lack of knowledge or a combination thereof will most probably never be answered.
Swept wing high speed aerodynamics and subsequently aircraft perfomance of modern airliners with supercritical airfoils requires a clean wing concept, and there is no yes but...
As said by many other posters here, no clean wing, no go, period.
Millions of dollars have been spent by scientists and engineers within NASA, the NRC in Canada and various other high caliber institutions worldwide to form a well documented and proven knowledge base of aerodynamic effects of contamination on supercritical airfoils and its effects on aircraft performance.
People died in the past and most probably will die in the future because of flight crew members who mistakenly think to know much better than all those engineers and scientist, just because they are THE PILOTS.