Germanwings A320 crashed in France :(

[Bluebarge]

Cobalt Blue said:

Those pictures are on Airlive.net http://www.airlive.net/2015/03/breaking-crash-of-a...

Those pictures are taken from the website of Le Dauphine Libere, regional newspaper, so will be legit.

More here
http://www.ledauphine.com/haute-provence/2015/03/2...

[Vaud]

Hereward said:

Can the flight recorders survive the huge energy they will have experienced in that crash? I know they are supremely robust but everything has a limit...

Yes, probably.

The crashworthiness standards of flight recorders was revised in 2003 by the European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE) committee. The recorder’s memory module is now required to withstand:

» an impact producing a 3,400-g deceleration for 6.5 milliseconds (equivalent to an impact velocity of 270 knots and a deceleration or crushing distance of 45 cm)
» a penetration force produced by a 227 kilograms (500 pounds) weight which is dropped from a height of 3 metres (10 feet)
» a static crush force of 22.25 kN (5,000 pounds) applied continuously for five minutes
» a fire of 1,100 degrees Celsius for 60 minutes.

[Boydie88]

el stovey said:

To descend using the autopilot, don't you need to set an altitude to descend to first?

No idea. But I have read of other crashes where blocked/frozen instruments cause the auto pilot to do funny things.

...might also explain the levelling out before impact if the autopilot was getting strange readings.

Edited by Boydie88 on Tuesday 24th March 16:31

[Mr Trophy]

Quick question, if there is a lose of pressure, do the air masks not come down? Therefore, no one would be knocked out?

[maxxy5]

Does that cover 400 knots into what I assume is solid rock?

[NormalWisdom]

Bluebarge said:

Those pictures are taken from the website of Le Dauphine Libere, regional newspaper, so will be legit.

More here
http://www.ledauphine.com/haute-provence/2015/03/2...

.....which says a Black Box has been found (16:57)

[SpeckledJim]

maxxy5 said:

Does that cover 400 knots into what I assume is solid rock?

Not quite the right question - the box isn't mounted on the nose of the plane. It is protected to some degree by the deflection and deformation of the plane around it.

[Cobalt Blue]

maxxy5 said:

Does that cover 400 knots into what I assume is solid rock?

The 'black boxes' are at the rear of the fuselage, so have a pretty big crumple-zone ahead of them.

[maxxy5]

I see, just surprising how the information can survive such an impact.

Is it possible that something went wrong with the external sensors, fooling the plane's computers, setting it into a descent, and they didn't realise until too late? I say that because of the Airbus frozen sensor incident mentioned at the start of the thread, in 2014. And the Air France crash.

[anonymous-user]

Mr Trophy said:

Quick question, if there is a lose of pressure, do the air masks not come down? Therefore, no one would be knocked out?

Only in the cabin, the pilots put in the oxygen masks after removing them from a 'quick release' stowage area beside their seats.

[anonymous-user]

Looks like they have the black box, should take long to find out what happened.

[KTF]

maxxy5 said:

I see, just surprising how the information can survive such an impact.

Is it possible that something went wrong with the external sensors, fooling the plane's computers, setting it into a descent, and they didn't realise until too late? I say that because of the Airbus frozen sensor incident mentioned at the start of the thread, in 2014. And the Air France crash.

On the thread in pprune, someone found a quote from Lufthansa Technik saying that the aircraft had the replacement probes fitted.

[Cobalt Blue]

Meanwhile, over the Atlantic, a Thompson triple-7 has turned back from quite a way out. No emergency declared and probably (hopefully) safely down by now.

https://twitter.com/NikPhillips666/status/58040760...

[onyx39]

Cobalt Blue said:

Meanwhile, over the Atlantic, a Thompson triple-7 has turned back from quite a way out. No emergency declared and probably (hopefully) safely down by now.

https://twitter.com/NikPhillips666/status/58040760...

It's a 787.
Still in the air.
Currently atFL7 descending into LGW

[airbusA346]

According to France 24, a black box has been found.

[Davie_GLA]

onyx39 said:

It's a 787.
Still in the air.
Currently atFL7 descending into LGW

Was destined for MBJ. Wonder what caused that turnaround!

[xjay1337]

Grumfutock said:

About the same as a streamlined anvil!

Another A320 glided over 300 miles from FL320.

[Boydie88]

kapiteinlangzaam said:

El Stovey is pulling your leg a little bit.

He is/was a commercial pilot (unless I am messing up my PH usernames...!) In any case, to descend on auto pilot you do need to input and then select/confirm the level with a positive action.

But could a few faulty instrument readings trick the auto pilot into a descent?

As for other questions about the oxygen masks, read about the Helios flight. Pilots misread warnings of a slow pressure loss before it knocked them out.

[anonymous-user]

I shouldn't watch so much Air Crash Investigation.... It makes me worry about flying

[xjay1337]

Boydie88 said:

But could a few faulty instrument readings trick the auto pilot into a descent?

As for other questions about the oxygen masks, read about the Helios flight. Pilots misread warnings of a slow pressure loss before it knocked them out.

I doubt the cabin crew would not alert the pilots in the event of Oxygen mask deployment.
Assuming the flight crew did not don their masks there's no way they would have gotten to FL380.

We simply do not know what happened. We can only spare a thought to the families of those that suffered this tragedy and wait until the facts are actually out there.

I have watched every single episode of ACI but an air crash investigator that does not make me.