Looks like a good job by a crew who methodically worked through their malfunction(s) to a safe landing. *tips cap*
In re the journalists ...
]One of the pilots declared an emergency and radioed Las Vegas controllers that they were dealing with “quite a few things, but the initial thing is . . . we’ve lost two hydraulic systems.”
I'd rather hear what was actually said on the radio.
The plane was loaded with five hours’ worth of fuel. Because the A320 is incapable of dumping excess fuel, the pilots circled the area south of the Vegas Strip until they’d burned enough to allow the crippled plane to land safely.[/quote]
Appreciate the explanations in this thread in re why fuel dump not required for cert. Was unaware.
[quote]An Airbus manual describes a double hydraulic failure as “improbable in operation.”
But not impossible. And as noted, they apparently got one of them back on line. Stalling an A330 is also "improbable," but it too has happened.
Esser said an Airbus has enough backup systems that the passengers were not in serious danger. “Even if everything failed, there would have been a way to manually land the aircraft,” he said.
Methinks the reporter is mistaken, or the spokesman careless.
If "everything" fails (all hyd systems failed?) I don't think a landing manually will be a matter of controlled flight. (Perhaps differential power with engines would make some sort of control possible ... not sure)
Presuming the A330 and A320 flight control set ups are similar, my slightly out of date flight control system diagram shows that, for example, the cables on the trim wheels require hydraulic boost to move the horizontal stab. Do I understand that correctly?