What the storry is all about
Hello WojtekSz (and many others without real insight of "dead stick" landing)
Like many "High Academics", you apply mathematics to simplified models of the real world. That is, in essence, "theory".
Most flying theories about "best gliding" do not take into consideration transient effects :
- wind gradient close to the ground (500 ft and below)
- ground effect during the flare.
- "cushionning" effect of flaps (very little documented indeed)
- techniques for stretching the flare
Well trained pilots know better about that than highly educated university teachers ... Birds also, despite their small brain, know better ...
Had the so called flying pilot reduced flaps setting much earlyier, and had he kept the speed at a decent value, disregarding the religion about maintaining glide slope, the following would have happenned :
- initially, the aircraft would have lost somme altitude, descending below glide slope, aiming at a point short of the airport fence
- in this configuration, the aircraft would have flown at a better efficciency and lost less energy per mile travelled.
- reaching lower layers sooner, that is also meeting less head wind hence more efficiency again.
- when approching the ground or obstacles, it was then appropriate time to bleed airspeed and to "stretch the glide". This glide stretching is more spectacular in ground effect and low head wind than at 300 ft with full head wind and full induced drag.
- if the pilots had real good feeling, they should finally reset full flaps at the correct time just before impact.
- this "impact" whoud have happenned at minimum speed, but following a much improved angle of arrival and rate of descent. With some luck, the flare would have allowed a "no-accident" arrival, on the runway or shorthly before.
In any way, it was difficult to imagine a worse course of action than letting the speed going out of control, and reducing flaps when the aircraft was already very close to the stall. Ok, they finally avoided the stall, but the aircraft fell out of the sky, without any speed margin for a minimum flare.
_ _ _ _
In this very unusal situation, the captain did apply the normal procedure : let the copilot fly the aircraft, and try by himself to solve the problem. This was not a mistake. Many of us have done that, in the sim or in the real world. Unfortunately, the captain didn't succeed in restoring thrust, and the copilot forgot what "flying the aircraft" means - instead he just let the auto-pilot fly the ILS "as usual", until the last moment.
Not recognizing soon enough that an exceptionnal problem justifies throwing out all SOPs ... and applying instead basic airmanship, basic flying skills : this is what the storry is all about (regarding crew actions, and regarding company training as well).
Edit : "decent speed" instead of descent speed
Last edited by Bis47; 12th Jan 2010 at 12:26.