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Old 1st October 2010 | 22:56
  #1401 (permalink)  
The Ancient Geek
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There does, however, remain a worrying airworthiness issue.

The enquiry has revealed that improper washing techniques can allow water to penetrate the alpha sensors leading to a multiple sensor failure.
A multiple failure will not be correctly interpreted by the automation and in this case apparantly caused a control law change and a full-up elevator trim which was not immediately apparant to the crew.

Complex failures of this kind are difficult to diagnose and indeed are difficult to design around. I find it worrying that a simple error by relatively unskilled ground staff can lead to such a situation.

Alpha limits should never be triggered in normal airline operations but the protection is there for good reasons and there remains a possibility that the failure could be repeated with disastrous results.

Strict supervision of washing operations is the obvious answer but a redesign of the sensors and pilot awareness are also important.

Another case of the world inventing a better fool to defeat a supposedly foolproof system.
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