re: APU
I've been told that 1,000G of fuel is about 15 hours of APU operation. If there is no ability to stretch for let's say a week or two, then it isn't worth the effort to run. Anyway, it produces way more energy than they need at this point. The only feasible long-term method is to use steam power with the APU, and I agree, it would take a huge boiler for that. I don't think anything existing on the plane could be repurposed for that.
re: RAT
Would the RAT deploy if the captain shut down the engines? He does it just before they hit the water. I think the RAT is plausibly the best thing to use for generation once they reach a little more sophisticated stage of development.
re: saltwater immersion
In this scenario, the plane is not immersed/floating in seawater. It's more like it is a powerboat blasting through shallow water/bottom as it rides up onto the shore. It isn't in the shallows for more than 5-10 seconds - so I'm going to pretend that nothing was really damaged by the saltwater except the engines.
re: aircraft gennys
I think there is some confusion. I'm talking about using the 28V AC alternators that are driven by the engine as backup power. I believe these are 300W at 2300 RPM. I'm not talking about the IDG - those are heavy duty 120KVA alternators that spin at 24K.
re: power conversion/inversion
I realize the APU has to also be removed from the plane to get the output to be converted to something that will work with portable electronics and AC tools. I do have an AMT on the airplane (for a good plot reason). She will be able to use her docs on her laptop to figure out the bits and pieces.
re: ditching?
Why is that so far fetched? If Captain Sulley could have ended the flight of his Airbus right onto a gently sloping beach, don't you think he would? Anyway, I do have a pilot who currently flies 777s reviewing the book and he didn't mention anything wrong with this scenario. I think it is because he's reading what I wrote and you're assuming something about what I wrote. Maybe I'll publish those portions on this forum if that will help.
re: charter flight
It would be a big change in the plot/characters to go with a charter flight. I'm hoping that I can use the excuse that there is an AMT on board who is headed to fix a 757 and is bringing along a decent set of tools to make sure they can.
re: hacksaw
Things get a lot more complicated without a way to cut SS/Alum up. One option is to have it in the cargo hold. I'm a sailor, and I know that whenever I travel to my boat, I'm bringing all sorts of tools/replacement parts. All it takes is for some passenger who is scheduled to spend a week on a boat somewhere in the Caribbean to be bringing some badly needed tool to the skipper.
re: Sat phone/406 EPIRB/GPS
These won't work as there are no satellites in the sky. Help is not around the corner. There is no rescue being staged, no one is coming for them. They are on their own.
Last edited by kenpimentel; 20th Sep 2014 at 19:41.