AF447 Thread No. 3
Is it time for a new thread ...
http://www.bea.aero/fr/enquetes/vol....mai2011.en.pdf Link to thread #2 Link to BEA report - English - 27May11 Link to BEA report - French - 27May11 Link to Air France A330 Accident thread, now locked. |
This is what I do not understand. Why would the PF pitch up whilst reacting to the stall warning? Or have I missed something?
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It s also time for a new server for the bea website. :bored: The current one is smoking.
It would be preferable for you to read the (very small) report before making such silly statements. JT |
Like Colgan Air 3407, perhaps?
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The French-language version (which is the official one) has some differences from the English one:
http://www.bea.aero/fr/enquetes/vol....mai2011.fr.pdf |
Dozy, I would not dare to say that yet, the report is very unclear. It feels as if we are presented only half the information.
AGB, could you elaborate on those differences, my French is very rusty. |
@ Penko
The differences are fairly slight, and look to me to be the result of rushing the job of translation and even missing a couple of sentences altogether (not helping the flow of sense at all - the initial English copy, for example, missed the sentence about the first stall warning, with the second warning being the first one detailed.....). BEA have already slightly corrected the English version (as usual) - so, when things have calmed down a bit, I'll take a close look at both and see what, if any, substantive differences remain. [BTW, I'm no aviator, so my only contribution will be a language-thing, as best I can.] |
Thanks AGB, I'll check again tonight.
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Hi Takata,
Thanks for your reply. Yes, you're right, the BEA have to keep it factual and proper. I just thought we might learn some more about communication between the pilots, which I'm sure was a bit more colourful than what has been released, and may also shed some more light on what was happening. All in due course, I'm sure. |
Agreed with, the differences noted so far don't change much of the facts.
Anyway, as per the disclaimer, french version is "the good one". Let's see : (french/english bad[/COLOR]/english corrected) "L’assiette de l’avion augmente progressivement au-delà de 10 degrés et il prend une trajectoire ascendante." "The airplane’s angle of attack increased progressively beyond 10 degrees and the plane started to climb." "The airplane’s pitch attitude increased progressively beyond 10 degrees and the plane started to climb." "Il y a eu une incohérence entre les vitesses affichées côté gauche et sur l’instrument de secours (ISIS). Elle a duré un peu moins d’une minute." "There was an inconsistency between the speeds displayed on the left side and the integrated standby instrument system (ISIS). This lasted for less than one minute." "There was an inconsistency between the speeds displayed on the left side and the integrated standby instrument system (ISIS). This lasted for a little less than one minute." That's all I found after a quick reading. |
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takata: thanks for the diagram you posted, I am unable to access the BEA report. (Will wait until this weekend when traffic slows down).
Dozy: I think that it would be a mistake to try too hard to compare this to Colgan Air mishap near Buffalo, on the human side (significantly greater and depth of experience), and because the flight was in the cruise rather than terminal phase of flight. I appreciate the "why the nose pitch up?" question. Until after the weekend, I'll be scarce. I wish you all a pleasant weekend. |
Type of Weather Radar used?
Would anyone be so kind to indicate what type and brand of weather radar was installed in AF447?Don`t forget that even though it might have been incorrect stall recovery by the pilots,how they ended up in a CB IN THE FIRST PLACE,would most likely be ,the blame of the weather radar.To me 10 000 fpm descent, might have been aided with the CB downdraft.
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A few posters have commented on the THS movement, and how one idea was the pilots not moving the THS following recovery of the stall.
From my knowledge this is an auto-trim aircraft. Aside from movement of the trim wheel is there any other action that could have been done to manually reset the THS. Unlike a 737 for instance where there is a separate trim switch. |
can someone explain
Can some professional pilot on this board please explain why any pilot would rationally want to have a nose-up attitude in a stall situation? The report said the pilots were nose-up and with a angle of attack of 35 degrees on descent (double what would cause a stall in my admittedly amateurish C152). I am 29hrs into my PPL, and have always believed/taught/executed that the first thing you do to break a stall is a nose-down (and level wing) attitude. I am a complete novice and really do not understand why/how this happened. It is a real tragedy but as a green trainee I want to learn from this.
can anyone help explain what i'm missing here? |
Hi,
A few posters have commented on the THS movement, and how one idea was the pilots not moving the THS following recovery of the stall. A 2 h 10 min 51 , l’alarme de décrochage se déclenche à nouveau. Les manettes de commande de poussée sont placées sur le cran TO/GA et le PF maintient son ordre à cabrer. L’incidence enregistrée, de l’ordre de 6 degrés au déclenchement de l’alarme de décrochage, continue à augmenter. Le plan horizontal réglable (PHR) passe de 3 à 13 degrés à cabrer en 1 minute environ ; il restera dans cette dernière position jusqu'à la fin du vol. At 2H10.51 this is again a stall alarm.the power levers are put on the position TO/GA and the PF keep the command to climb. Incidence angle of 6° when sounded the stall alarm continue to rise. The adjustable horizontal stabilizer go from 3° to 13° (climb position) in about 1 minute. He will stay in this position to the end of the flight. A 2 h 12 min 02, le PF dit « je n’ai plus aucune indication », et le PNF « on n’a aucune indication qui soit valable ». A cet instant, les manettes de commande de poussée se trouvent sur le cran IDLE, les N1 des moteurs sont à 55 %. Une quinzaine de secondes plus tard, le PF fait des actions à piquer At 2H12.02 the PF tell "I have no more indication" and the PNF "we don't have any accurate indication" At this moment the power levers are on position IDLE and N1 engines indicate 35% 15 seconds after the PF perform a command to dive |
Originally Posted by ask26
(Post 6476521)
From my knowledge this is an auto-trim aircraft. Aside from movement of the trim wheel is there any other action that could have been done to manually reset the THS. Unlike a 737 for instance where there is a separate trim switch.
737 has auto-trim too - again, it can drop out automatically, after putting the trim full up - see Schipol (and at least one other incident). |
he thinks he's diving
Maybe the reason the PF persists with a nose-up command and then resets throttles to idle is that his instruments tell him he is diving and overspeeding????
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At 2H12.02 the PF tell "I have no more indication" and the PNF "we don't have any accurate indication" At this moment the power levers are on position IDLE and N1 engines indicate 55% {per the French original} 15 seconds after the PF perform a command to dive |
I'm posting here as the old thread disapeared.
Hi Svarin,
Originally Posted by Svarin
BEA wrote :
The airplane’s angle of attack increased progressively beyond 10 degrees and the plane started to climb. The PF made nose-down control inputs and alternately left and right roll inputs. The trimmable horizontal stabilizer (THS) passed from 3 to 13 degrees nose-up in about 1 minute and remained in the latter position until the end of the flight. For this part, the report says: A 2 h 10 min 51 (5), l’alarme de décrochage se déclenche à nouveau. Les manettes de commande de poussée sont placées sur le cran TO/GA et le PF maintient son ordre à cabrer. L’incidence enregistrée, de l’ordre de 6 degrés au déclenchement de l’alarme de décrochage, continue à augmenter. Le plan horizontal réglable (PHR) passe de 3 à 13 degrés à cabrer en 1 minute environ ; il restera dans cette dernière position jusqu'à la fin du vol.L’altitude est alors d’environ 35 000 ft, l'incidence dépasse 40 degrés et la vitesse verticale est d’environ - 10 000 ft/min. L’assiette de l’avion ne dépasse pas 15 degrés et les N1 des moteurs sont proches de 100 %. L’avion subit des oscillations en roulis atteignant parfois 40 degrés. Le PF exerce une action sur le manche en butée à gauche et à cabrer, qui dure environ 30 secondes. 1) TOGA applied (pitch up reaction) 2) PF maintaining pitch up during 30 seconds 3) THS moving from +3 to +13 deg. 4) Pitch increase to about +30 deg (from +10 to +40). A 2 h 12 min 02, le PF dit « je n’ai plus aucune indication », et le PNF « on n’a aucune indication qui soit valable ». A cet instant, les manettes de commande de poussée se trouvent sur le cran IDLE, les N1 des moteurs sont à 55 %. Une quinzaine de secondes plus tard, le PF fait des actions à piquer. Dans les instants qui suivent, on constate une diminution d’incidence,les vitesses redeviennent valides et l’alarme de décrochage se réactive. But, a VERY selective reading could always make one quite happy with his very "suspicious" findings! |
Hi,
In the report chapter "new findings" I read: The inputs made by the PF were mainly nose-up I may ask to the pilots in this forum Is this a normal behavior for recovery from a stall event ? |
Hi jcjeant,
Originally Posted by jcjeant
In the report chapter "new findings" I read:
The inputs made by the PF were mainly nose-up I may ask to the pilots in this forum Is this a normal behavior for recovery from a stall event ? That may be the confusion if one is only trained to low alt, low speed, Normal Law stall recovery, even if both Pilots aknowledged they were in Alternate Law. Something that need a serious investigation here. |
Maybe the reason the PF persists with a nose-up command and then resets throttles to idle is that his instruments tell him he is diving and overspeeding???? Of course it crossed my mind that for some reason he thought he was diving or gaining too much speed. But then he would not add power. It just makes no sense. And it is not a momentary confusion either, it is a persistent pitch up command. There were two other pilots there who did not react to this inconsistent action by the PF which makes it all the more puzzling. I maintain that we are missing half the information. |
Hi,
In one of the graph (point number 6) the aircraft made a turn to the right (and not a small turn!) How that can possible as in the rapport the first PF action is a command to climb with a turn command to the left ... |
What I believe the report doesn't say is what the PF instruments were saying.
In the BEA BAC 111 incident in the 70s the crew had both overspeed and stall warnings at the same time - caused by ice in the pitot and static lines. There was somewhere over Asia a pitot ice problem just after the AF with prang similar instrument indications to the 111. I read the post from the crew on PPrune. The skipper stated that if it had been at night they might not have got away with it. Speaking from my own experience only - If the choice was overspeed or stall then I would lean towards stalling as with a gross overspeed one has no chance to recover. On early jets - 707 etc - with an overspeed you opened the airbrakes immediately - did it once in wave over the alps after returning from the call of nature and not realizing the ball park had changed. Assuming there was not a flight control system fault then it seems as though PF didn't understand what was going on. Which leads to a post I made last week - why don't they fit AOA instruments? Lost my best friend in a stall which was not identified nearly 40 years ago and eff all appears to have changed. |
Well, there is an AOA instrument on board: the stall warning
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Hi,
both Pilots aknowledged they were in Alternate Law |
@ silverline001 : Les Airbus A330 d’Air France sont équipés du radar Collins WXR700X. L’image radar est présentée sur les ND, superposée aux autres informations.
Source : BEA's interim #1 report, dated july 2009. @ jcjeant : A roll command to the left is not a turn command to the left. Particularly when this roll command seems aimed to counter an aircraft roll to the right... Are you already trying to find a reason to disregard the last BEA sayings ? :rolleyes: |
And it is not a momentary confusion either, it is a persistent pitch up command. There were two other pilots there who did not react to this inconsistent action by the PF which makes it all the more puzzling We do not know that the others didn't react, as the report does not tell us either way. The report does note, however, that the PF and PNF both did something a 2:13:28 (1 minute before impact), at which point the PF handed over control to the other. So there does seem to have been some reaction. Edited to add emphasis. |
infrequent flyer: this is a wirehead question in two parts, but I'll ask anyway.
1. What parameters inform (other than sidestick command, or in mechanical back up mode the trim wheels) how the THS moves up or down? Are the inputs into Pri or Sec that lead to THS commands (which include autotrim commands) -airspeed? -AoA? -a blend/sum of both? (Are other intertial systems inputs summed in to create the final signal? the (dated) block diagram doesn't get into the wire and signal inputs and loops). 2. As I understand the (dated) block diagram, mechanical mode (trim wheels) does not command the elevators, it commands only the THS. (If I have misunderstood this, please advise). Interesting comment on the old training aid I am referring to: Regardless of pilot inputs, the computers will prevent : - exceedance of the safe flight envelope- excessive maneuvres |
Another puzzling combination, in addition to the already mentioned ones,is that with the application of TOGA they gave a pitch Up input, and when they applied IDLE power they gave a pitch Down input...I don't get it, it's the inverse of what you might expect: TOGA application makes sense in a stalled condition together with a pitch down input, and IDLE application makes sense in a overspeeding condition where pitch Up might be required. Something is missing or I'm missing something.
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Originally Posted by jcjeant
(Post 6476539)
Hi,
How it's possible that the horizontal stabilizer stay in climb position when the PF perform a dive command ? Some possibilities (from my basic understanding of the engineering) a) because auto-trim has been lost, it's not there in all laws (not clear this is what happened in this case) or b) because autotrim went wrong - possibly due to invalid speed input to gain or c) because maybe the pitch-down input was brief and/or could be satisfied without moving THS Remember the pilots went hard pitch up (to the "stops"), then briefly pitch-down, quite possibly the attitude never reached level let alone "dive". BEA states that "angle of attack decreased" following the pitch-down - therefore the it appears the a/c was still responding to pitch controls (and in the right direction, but at what rate?). Shortly after, the pilots comment about reaching FL100, and there are further control inputs - not specified, but possibly pitch up again... Another consideration: BEA: "The airplane was subject to roll oscillations that sometimes reached 40 degrees." From http://www.airbusdriver.net/airbus_fltlaws.htm: No requirement to change pitch trim for changes in airspeed, configuration, or bank up to 33 degrees. Not clear what those two taken together mean - maybe autotrim stopped temporaily due to the roll angles. Note: there is still insufficient information to say the aircraft and flight control systems are in the clear, but equally not enough to show they are to blame. We do know, however, that the aircraft didn't pitch-up and stall on its own - pilot inputs were made. I'll leave those to the heavy pilots to discuss. |
I think there is vital information not presented in the report. In particular the position of the thrust levers is only given at a couple of points. We know PF dialled in a lower speed because of turbulence and shortly afterwards AT disengaged. How long after this point did the PF touch the throttle levers to increase thrust? I don't think we are told. Later, after the first stall warning, the engine levers at at TOGA. It would be very useful to see a graph of engine N1 over the whole period.
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Originally Posted by jcjeant
In one of the graph (point number 6) the aircraft made a turn to the right (and not a small turn!)
How that can possible as in the rapport the first PF action is a command to climb with a turn command to the left ...
Originally Posted by jcjeant
In alternate law .. the trim is in "auto-trim" ?
Originally Posted by geoff sutherland
Maybe the reason the PF persists with a nose-up command and then resets throttles to idle is that his instruments tell him he is diving and overspeeding?
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I don't think many have experienced a stall in a turbulent cell before. Recognizing that the aircraft had indeed stalled might have been very difficult at night (as Blind Pew referred to earlier) and with all the alarms going off. (And agreed, the stall warning should have been a primary indication but that was preceeded by other alarms.) Once established in the stalled state, the aircraft still had roll control and may have been fairly stable in that state with no further stall breaks, causing confusion as to the correct action to perform. Nowhere in that report do I see any overspeed reference so why forward stick was not applied is very odd unless the effects of vertigo were so convincing. THS up trim to 13 degrees up (whether done by the system or manually) definitely needs to be analyzed and understood.
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Originally Posted by Lonewolf_50
(Post 6476642)
infrequent flyer: this is a wirehead question in two parts, but I'll ask anyway.
1. What parameters inform (other than sidestick command, or in mechanical back up mode the trim wheels) how the THS moves up or down? Short answer - I don't know, but it is one of the questions on my mind too... I strongly suspect that airspeed is in there somewhere, but what value is used when airspeed is known-invalid, I have no idea. Regardless of pilot inputs, the computers will prevent : - excessive maneuvres - exceedance of the safe flight envelope And the concierge can fly it too... :suspect: All missing the big caveat "as long as everything works normally" (and actually, even then the concierge quote is rubbish). Drop out of normal law and all that no longer applies. |
Maybe the reason the PF persists with a nose-up command and then resets throttles to idle is that his instruments tell him he is diving and overspeeding???? So it seems more likely he did not believe the instruments. Or is it possibile he misinterpreted the protections the current law was providing? If he thought he still had stall protection, would commanding pitch up be a way of trying to tell the aircraft: I don't want to lose altitude, and I'm relying on you not to let me stall? |
L@zerdog, what you described looks like a hybrid between a spin and a spiral.
Once established in the stalled state, the aircraft still had roll control and may have been fairly stable in that state with no further stall breaks, causing confusion as to the correct action to perform. |
What parameters inform (other than sidestick command, or in mechanical back up mode the trim wheels) how the THS moves up or down? |
Press can't read English or French...
The rubbish has started in the "press" - front of dailymail website (my bold):
Passengers and crew on board doomed Air France jet endured terrifying THREE MINUTE plunge into the ocean after engines failed The pilot, Marc Dubois, had been taking a break when the plane hit heavy turbulence and never returned to his seat before the crash. |
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