Originally Posted by
BRDuBois
Concours - I understand what you're saying. This is why I want to hear from pilots. The interlock between the ailerons and rudder doesn't actually link them directly, it's a linkage at the flight station. So if the ailerons deflection doesn't match the control inputs, the rudder won't hear about that, so to speak.
They couldn't be locked directly, that would involve a "disable" switch and in an emergency, no one wants to create risk because Lockheed thinks the aircraft needs to have co ordinated turns "at all times"....any deviation from expected turn behavior would have alerted the crew to a problem, perhaps it was the initial clue for your Dad?
I brought up the early turn earlier. I base my thought on your video, which shows the aircraft turning at extremely low altitude, and since the Electra never exceeded 300 feet AGL as testified to by ATC, one could conclude it initiated a turn at an altitude barely equivalent to its wingspan. "Wind Shear" was not well understood in 1961, but subjecting a passenger transport to ground contact due to an itinerant "down draft" was on every pilot's mind.
BTW, such a shallow climb on departure would catch ATC attention, for sure. More evidence the flight path was not actually consistent with the reported "understanding" of it by the report. More evidence of that reposes in the ALPA statement the Electra was "nearly inverted".... Were there witnesses who saw the actual impact?