Structural Integrity 2
Thanks for your comments Heracles.
We are in accord on the possibility of the slow turn into the dead engine being causal. The problem I have with this is the experience level of the crew. By all accounts it was good. With the WX severe clear, a perfect horizon outside, and an airplane comfortably below MTOW, such a crew would generally be expected to pick up a falling wing before its too late, even if momentarily startled by a structural “bang” or failing engine. Its been drummed into all of us that if we are to hit, doing so as close to S&L means we might walk away, so the primary instinct when this low and slow will be wings level, and chase that life saving speed you rightly referred to.
Because the airplane never even started to pick up the low wing, I feel that the crew may have been confronted with a structural “hard over”, which they physically couldn’t overcome in the time and altitude window available.
That got me back to the “object”, and reverse engineering my way into what could cause such a “hard over” event. A separating inboard or outboard flap can occur if the flap track fails at the attach face, or there is a serious corrosion condition in the rear spar where the track attaches. The outboard flap is immediately adjacent to the low speed aileron lock out quadrant. The aileron bus cables run just in front of both flaps. As it was with the THY and AA DC-10 floor collapses snagging primary control cables, it would be technically possible for a separating flap to pull any element of the aileron cable system and cause a “hard over”. Such a structural “jam” rapidly sets up the slow speed turn into the dead engine with a predictable outcome.
Does anyone have any information on the CVR / FDR de code yet ? I think I saw a post that said noting can or has been retrieved.
Regards
Tweedler