Anyone got a Towbar??
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Pity some of the anoraks on here ar unable to think a bit more laterally with their speculation about the causes of the flights problem. Here's a starter for 10... think of fuel temperature problems on such a long flight!
Now I'll hand back to the spotters and enthusiasts to air their amusing ideas.
Now I'll hand back to the spotters and enthusiasts to air their amusing ideas.
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anyone got a Towbar
During a engineering dispute at Briitish Airways in Manchester during the 70's a BAC 1-11 500 was stuck at the gate without a pushback. At the time about 5 crews were deadheading to Berlin, our best layover. So the crews got off and manually pushed the 1-11 back off the stand so it could depart. Where there is a will there is a way!
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Fuel Temp has absolutely nothing to do with the problem of tanks running dry
Per Ardua ad Astraeus
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OOI, the temperature last week over southern europe at FL400 was -71C which is below the 'norm'.
The Boeing 737 QRH calls for descent or speed increase to raise the fuel temperature, and either of these actions would probably have caused a shortfall in available fuel to complete the flight on a 737, possibly requiring a 'tech stop' en-route.
The Boeing 737 QRH calls for descent or speed increase to raise the fuel temperature, and either of these actions would probably have caused a shortfall in available fuel to complete the flight on a 737, possibly requiring a 'tech stop' en-route.
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Well, somebody has to say it!
Bring back the professional Flight Engineer
Just another example of the pilots not watching what is going on, rather wait for the ECAMS message (when it's to late to do anything proactive!).
As in most of these incidents, something can much more easily done when the problem is noticed when it first shows - not when the engines start to 'splutter'.
When will the 'establishment' ever realize the value of the FE, its always comes down to salary dollars. So, they save the pennies (the salary), and lose the dollars (the airplane) - or nearly do!
Just as a result of this one incident, the operator could have paid the salaries of a troop of FEs for a very long time - and how many incidents are in the past and are still to come?
So silly, really
Cheers
Bring back the professional Flight Engineer
Just another example of the pilots not watching what is going on, rather wait for the ECAMS message (when it's to late to do anything proactive!).
As in most of these incidents, something can much more easily done when the problem is noticed when it first shows - not when the engines start to 'splutter'.
When will the 'establishment' ever realize the value of the FE, its always comes down to salary dollars. So, they save the pennies (the salary), and lose the dollars (the airplane) - or nearly do!
Just as a result of this one incident, the operator could have paid the salaries of a troop of FEs for a very long time - and how many incidents are in the past and are still to come?
So silly, really
Cheers
Impossible for the fuel to be minus 70 as this would have been colder than the aircraft. Total Air Temperature would have been in the range -40 to - 46. At minus 47 or approaching -47 (fuel freeze point) the fuel shoud be transferred from the outer to inner tanks. For the fuel to be minus 70 the OAT would be around -90 degrees or lower. The operating limit of the A340-600 is minus 74.
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FCMC Faults
The aircraft (A340-600) is notorious for these faults and is important to understand the reasons why computers in general fail / seize. (No different from a home PC really)
The FCMC is a computer and when it sends a command to a system and the system does not comply for one reason or another then the computer will crash say FCMC 2. The FCMC is reset and after a few minutes will cycle back to the original command and will crash again if not complied with.
If FCMC 2 is off line then FCMC1 will take over and send the same command, if this is not complied then FCMC1 will fail.
Take the example of fuel transfer. When an inner tank reaches 4t the FCMC will signal a fwd txfr. If the txfr fails the computer will crash no matter how many resets, unless the txfr starts the computer FCMC2 say will always crash. If left off line then FCMC 1 will take over, this will signal a fwd txfr and if this fails to happen the computer will crash and then ECAM will signal a dbl FCMC failure with the associated drills.
It is of course not easy to figure out what the FCMC are doing and why they crash but with a little knowledge it can be worked out and preempted.
I do not know what happened in this incident or what actions were or were not taken.
With an inner tank at 4t the fuel should start a trim tank fwd txfr and at 2t an outer to inner txfr. If an FCMC fails at this time then a manual txfr will preempt any further failure and the FCMC will reset. This has happened to me a few times.
If the outers completely fail to txfr then there is only 8t of usable fuel left so an immediate diversion would have to be considered.
With a double FCMC failure all fuel warnings are lost; at least this is obvious as ECAM displays FCMC 1+2 Fault. All txfr’s must be done manually.
The FCMC is a computer and when it sends a command to a system and the system does not comply for one reason or another then the computer will crash say FCMC 2. The FCMC is reset and after a few minutes will cycle back to the original command and will crash again if not complied with.
If FCMC 2 is off line then FCMC1 will take over and send the same command, if this is not complied then FCMC1 will fail.
Take the example of fuel transfer. When an inner tank reaches 4t the FCMC will signal a fwd txfr. If the txfr fails the computer will crash no matter how many resets, unless the txfr starts the computer FCMC2 say will always crash. If left off line then FCMC 1 will take over, this will signal a fwd txfr and if this fails to happen the computer will crash and then ECAM will signal a dbl FCMC failure with the associated drills.
It is of course not easy to figure out what the FCMC are doing and why they crash but with a little knowledge it can be worked out and preempted.
I do not know what happened in this incident or what actions were or were not taken.
With an inner tank at 4t the fuel should start a trim tank fwd txfr and at 2t an outer to inner txfr. If an FCMC fails at this time then a manual txfr will preempt any further failure and the FCMC will reset. This has happened to me a few times.
If the outers completely fail to txfr then there is only 8t of usable fuel left so an immediate diversion would have to be considered.
With a double FCMC failure all fuel warnings are lost; at least this is obvious as ECAM displays FCMC 1+2 Fault. All txfr’s must be done manually.
