PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - AF 447 Search to resume (part2)
View Single Post
Old 8th May 2011, 23:59
  #964 (permalink)  
Chris Scott
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Blighty (Nth. Downs)
Age: 77
Posts: 2,107
Received 4 Likes on 4 Posts
Back to Cabin VS...

grity, quote:
"if the bird is without any control but starts with an extrem climb mayby 60 deg, this (~balistic) path will reach a maximal high of ~12700m (full change the kinetic horizontal energie into potencial energie), while reducing the speed to very low untill it will deap stall and if it then fall with a stable AOA of 50-60 deg. back to 10500m and afterwards down to zero....."

Although this violent pitch-up would be an effective speed-loss mechanism, and looks to be the best (maybe the only) way of greatly exceeding the normal-stall AoA, there is evidence that suggests it couldn't have involved a climb as high as your ~12700m (~FL416).

The cabin altitude and differential pressure in the cruise at FL350 could not have coped with a sudden climb of 6000ft without maximum differential pressure being reached. Shortly after that, the safety valve would operate and the cabin VS (cabin climbing) would increase to something well over the +1800ft/min required to trigger a warning identical to that generated at 02:14z, the subject of the last ACARS message received.

Regret to say that I cannot calculate the flight-level where this would occur, nor the relationship between aircraft VS and cabin VS at the safety-valve differential pressure; but a ball-park figure would be between 2:1 and 2.5:1. So I think an aircraft climb VS of about 4000ft/min would suffice. The passing flight-level where this would start might be about FL370 - FL380. Sorry I cannot be more helpful.

Chris

PS
For new readers, there has been a broad consensus on previous threads that the cabin VS warning at 0214z was the result of the aircraft "catching the cabin" in its last descent, causing the inward-relief valves to open and allowing the cabin to descend at a VS exceeding -1800ft/min. This would have happened at about FL060.
Chris Scott is offline