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Old 3rd Jun 2009, 18:59
  #745 (permalink)  
Dutch Bru
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Belgium
Age: 63
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CB, supercooled water droplets and airframe icing

I am one of those who assumes for obvious reasons that (Air (bus)) France will not let any stone unturned to find the DFDR and CVR. So they'll manage and we'll know. Until then I would not want to speculate, but at the same time wouldn't to leave some speculation without comment.

Concerning those posts questioning whether icing could not have played a role (in the disabling of a series of flight related functionalities on board of the A332), I wanted to point to supercooled water droplets. A remarkable phenomen, which, in the absence of a seed crystal or nucleus around which a crystal structure can formate, makes that a liquid (in this case water) can remain fluid well below its freezing point.

Droplets of supercooled water often exist in stratiform and cumulus clouds. They form into ice when they are struck by the wings of passing airplanes and abruptly crystallize.
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