Originally Posted by
ManaAdaSystem
The captain stuffed up. The first officer failed to notice.
You flight instructors can write page after page of "Airplanes for dummies" but it boils down to:
Thrust and pitch
Can we discuss why four slides were blown out of position in what appears to be light to moderate wind conditions?
Regarding the slides, based on the OMDB prevailing wind conditions detailed in the preliminary report (extract below) it looks very much as though a change was moving through. The a/c finsihed pointing roughly 240 so it was lined up betwixt and between the change of direction.
Site ....... Dir ...... Speed ....... Gusts
Tower ... 340 ..... 11.0kt
12L ....... 315 ....... 9.1kts ..... 29.2kts
30R ....... 118 ..... 15.6kts ..... 21.4kts
12R ....... 131 ..... 13.0kts .... 22.2kts
30L ....... 117 ..... 17.5kts .... 23.5kts
South .... 115 ..... 21.2kts .... 22.0kts
There is a 2004 study done by the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands on the performance of slides in real emergencies. They looked at 150 survivable aircraft accidents during the period 1970–2003 in which slides were used, in 89 cases (59%) one or more slides did not function properly. Of those 89 cases, 11 (12.4%) were wind affected - winds ranged from as light as 6 knots up to 32 knots, gusting 42 knots (average of 18 knots gusting 32 knots). To quote the report "wind direction relative to the aircraft’s position/attitude played a key role."