PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - AF 447 Thread No. 5
View Single Post
Old 11th Aug 2011, 19:19
  #1907 (permalink)  
xcitation
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: California
Age: 55
Posts: 203
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
It's amazing how graceful/forgiving the A330 behaves below its flight envelope (stalled, storm and low airspeed)?

Before this incident if you asked me if a transport can be controlled at ~30kts in a storm then I would guess no, probably tumble and break up. Remarkably the reality is yes albeit requiring aggressive stick inputs to maintain level wings!

Was there a special reasons why AF447 remained controllable at ~30kts? Did the free fall/stall (100+kts vertical) acting on the superstructure provide aerodynamic stability even thought the wings were not flying?
Why did asymetric engine thrust/drag not induce a spin?
Why did the ailerons/rudder generate enough force to keep the a/c in a graceful attitude albeit oscilating in roll?
xcitation is offline