Crash at Heathrow

[crowebird]

it just seems strange that you would lose all the power moments before touchdown! 777 have RATs right, wouldnt that have atleast
restored electrical, unless there was some crazy short?

In the end, its still good to hear that everyone was alright.

[DSW334]

An Initial report has been released stating that the plane wasn't responding to autothrottle requests and manual throttle request at 600ft and 2 miles out.

http://www.aaib.dft.gov.uk/latest_news/a...report.cfm



Post Edited ( 01-18-08 23:38 )

[DBE]

crowebird wrote:
it just seems strange that you would lose all the power moments before touchdown! 777 have RATs right, wouldnt that have atleast
restored electrical, unless there was some crazy short?

Power as in "Thrust", Michael: RATs won't help revive a dead thrust computer.

[ameval]

Here are all the picture of the B777. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7194201.stm

[DSW334]

A second report was released by the authorities:

As previously reported, whilst the aircraft was stabilised on an ILS approach with the autopilot engaged, the autothrust system
commanded an increase in thrust from both engines. The engines both initially responded but after about 3 seconds the thrust of the
right engine reduced. Some eight seconds later the thrust reduced on the left engine to a similar level. The engines did not shut down
and both engines continued to produce thrust at an engine speed above flight idle, but less than the commanded thrust.

Recorded data indicates that an adequate fuel quantity was on board the aircraft and that the autothrottle and engine control commands
were performing as expected prior to, and after, the reduction in thrust.

link: http://www.aaib.dft.gov.uk/latest_news/a...update.cfm



Post Edited ( 01-24-08 12:46 )

[Anastasios]

This is such a strange accident. This morning I returned from a flight and ofcourse we talked about this accident.

And some moments before landing you kinda start to wait... you know you'll land safely, but still....

And I do appreciate the very good evacuation of the BA flight ;-).

Some other thing: On take-off today from Uganda we were pretty heavy. Also the airport is at an altitude of almost 1 km.
So the plane is slower with accelerating. We noticed that, as the engines were on full power and slow acceleration.

The take-off roll took soooooo long! It was unbelievable, in the back we were like... hello? pull up? In all I think it took about 20 - 25 seconds,
which is looong. Short scary moment there.

Anastasios.

[DSW334]

Anastasios,

I fully agree. It's a very strange accident. Every system is redundant, so you would think that the 2 systems won't fail at the same time..
There was enough fuel on board, so no fuel failure. No birdstrike. Since the second engine failed to response about 8 seconds after the
first engine, it is also almost impossible that it was a pilot error. You wouldn't think that a highly trained staff made the same error twice,
that leads to both engines failing..So what else can it be?

The only speculations I have been reading are either a short circuit in the throttle quadrant or water in the fuel tanks.. Since no other plane
leaving that day from Beijing had a fuel problem, it's hard to believe that this one had. So you can pretty much rule that one out too..

[Anastasios]

Our pilots thought it was windshear.

It must be a combination of failures/faults and happenings.

Still pilot error is not to be ruled out.

Remember the BMI crash in England?
The pilots shut down the wrong engine.
With BA38 it could be caused by lack of technical information from Boeing and/or lack of training. However, BA is a really good airline so that is a
bit hard to believe from me. Maybe lack of communication between Boeing and BA or some faults in the 'manual', which lead to a faulty training.

Anastasios.

[Drew]

Fuel flow restricted by ice in the system, investigators have said......

[Valoran]

yeah. They also said it's a 1 in 6.5 million failure. They hadn't yet recreated the conditions in a controlled setting. Sounds like a freak
accicdent to me. Like if your keyboard came a little loose during a flight and you suddenly had half your hotkeys working on final. You
can't train for that.