Garrison
Bear says:
Quote:
at impact, the Horizontal and Vertical velocities sum for a FLIGHT Path of 45 degrees descentYes?
Garrison says:
Yes, and with 16 degrees nose up that gives an AoA of 61 degrees as asserted by gums. But the BEA numbers for most of the descent -- pitch 15, AoA 35-40 -- imply a much shallower descent. The airplane was almost uncannily stable during much of the descent -- steady AoA, no spin, and 40-degree wing rock correctable with ailerons is pretty nice behavior with AoA > 35 -- but that may have changed. It is not clear to me whether thrust went above idle again after 2:12:02; at low altitude thrust could affect angle of attack.
Sorry, how is 55 degrees a much shallower descent than 61?
I am using BEA derived data re: velocities, basically H/V square. That gives a very simple Pythagorean solution of 45 degrees for hypotenuse, and velocities (integral) that compute to a summed velocity of 140 knots or thereabouts. I don't disagree with your assumption that these figures were or could be different at altitude, but so far no data with which to invest in an opinion?