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Author Topic: Germanwings 4U-9525 down in France  (Read 32847 times)

Offline Han

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Re: Germanwings 4U-9525 down in France
« Reply #25 on: March 28, 2015, 08:37:30 AM »
I'm not saying if he was a pilot he had to be better than the general population. I think I'll just have to wait for the final report to believe what happened.

Offline joeyb747

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Re: Germanwings 4U-9525 down in France
« Reply #26 on: March 28, 2015, 09:59:34 AM »
Good read:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/27/opinions/abend-germanwings-pilot-health/

Les Abend has been a commercial pilot for decades, he has written columns for FLYING magazine and is an Aviation Analyst for CNN. He, compared to most other analysts the media trots out, is "our guy on the inside", if you will. He is a Pilot, Captain, in fact. His input and opinions hold more water for me then an "outsider" or non-pilot.

Pilots are human too, we all know this. But at the same time, pilots are charged with the responsibility of making sure his or her passengers arrive safe at their destination. Pilots are held to a higher level, along with ship, rail, and bus crew members. All charged with passenger responsibility. If in fact, the First Officer deliberately caused this crash, it is obvious that there was something amiss with him and his mental state. It is in a pilots DNA to "fly the plane". I was watching CNN last night, and a reporter was at a training center with an A320 simulator. The instructor was showing the reporter what it might have looked like from the cockpit as the copilot flew the airplane into the French Alps. Seated in the right seat, he adjusted the altitude hold down to 100 ft, and increased the vertical speed downward. The "aircraft" raced towards the mountains. The GPWS started going off. The Master Caution began blaring. If one has never heard the Airbus Master Caution, if gets your attention, that is for sure. The reporters eyes were the size of fifty cent pieces as the computer-generated mountains wizzed by the windows. The instructor allowed the demonstration to get to a certain point and then he said something to the effect of "I can't do this, you know what? Let's get out of here." He disconnected the autopilot, pushed up the power, and pulled the nose up, silenced the Master Caution, and "flew the airplane" to safety.  

My point is, even in a simulator, pilots are determined to not allow the aircraft to crash. It appears in this instance, the situation this pilot was dealing with was hidden from Lufthansa and Germanwings. I am sure he feared loosing his job. I am sure he loved flying. I am sure it was his passion. Lufthansa stated, other then a gap in his training record, he was a flawless pilot with a clean record. The leg down to Barcelona was uneventful. Maybe the Captain didn't have to piss on that leg. Maybe this was spur of the moment, or, maybe he had thought about it before and was waiting for the right time. When the Captain got up to use the restroom, he saw his chance, and locked the door. We may never truly know what was going on inside his head.

This is not the first time a pilot-suicide has ended the lives of the innocent:

http://news.aviation-safety.net/2015/03/26/list-of-aircraft-accidents-and-incidents-deliberately-caused-by-pilots/

This is a "tour" of an A320 flight deck. At the 5:40 mark, she pushes the "TEST" button on the ENG #1 FIRE SYSTEM, it lights up and sounds the MASTER CAUTION:



Also, at the 5:00 mark, the MASTER CAUTION is demonstrated and silenced via the button on the glareshield:

« Last Edit: March 28, 2015, 10:29:25 AM by joeyb747 »

Offline joeyb747

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Re: Germanwings 4U-9525 down in France
« Reply #27 on: March 28, 2015, 01:52:50 PM »
I've been thinking about this for a while now, the media is suggesting that the copilot reprogrammed the autopilot for the decent...I'm wondering if he did...

 In Airbus equipment, the computer protects the aircraft under what is known as NORMAL LAW. If the computer looses data or parameters, it will switch to ALTERNATE LAW. In ALTERNATE LAW, some protections are removed. In NORMAL LAW however, it is impossible to over-rotate or over-bank the airplane. This limits vertical climb and decent, and bank angle in turns. My thought is he may have turned off the ALTITUDE HOLD on the autopilot, and simply pushed the sidestick forward and held it. The computer will only allow the the aircraft to reach 15 degrees down angle before NORMAL LAW protections kick in, regardless of sidestick input. It is impossible to nose-dive an Airbus under NORMAL LAW conditions. We will have to wait for the Flight Data Recorder to be found and analyzed before we will know for sure...

 
« Last Edit: March 28, 2015, 04:02:11 PM by joeyb747 »

Offline flyflyfly

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Re: Germanwings 4U-9525 down in France
« Reply #28 on: March 29, 2015, 06:26:59 AM »
I've been thinking about this for a while now, the media is suggesting that the copilot reprogrammed the autopilot for the decent...I'm wondering if he did...

The aircraft had a modern ADSB transmitter which also transmits the target altitude selected on the autopilot panel. The data shows the autopilot was set to 38000ft until 09:30:52Z. At 09:30:54Z the altitude was 13000ft (someone has started dialing on the altitude knob) and at 09:30:55Z it was set at 100ft (the minimum setting), where it remained until the signal was lost.

The data was also decoded by flightradar:
http://forum.flightradar24.com/threads/8650-We-have-analysed-the-raw-data-from-the-transponder-of-4U9525-and-found-some-more-dat

The investigators surely also have the recordings of the official radar data. Unfortunately, it's pretty conclusive that someone in the cockpit actually had changed the AP setting.

Offline joeyb747

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Re: Germanwings 4U-9525 down in France
« Reply #29 on: March 29, 2015, 09:12:30 AM »
I've been thinking about this for a while now, the media is suggesting that the copilot reprogrammed the autopilot for the decent...I'm wondering if he did...

The aircraft had a modern ADSB transmitter which also transmits the target altitude selected on the autopilot panel. The data shows the autopilot was set to 38000ft until 09:30:52Z. At 09:30:54Z the altitude was 13000ft (someone has started dialing on the altitude knob) and at 09:30:55Z it was set at 100ft (the minimum setting), where it remained until the signal was lost.

The data was also decoded by flightradar:
http://forum.flightradar24.com/threads/8650-We-have-analysed-the-raw-data-from-the-transponder-of-4U9525-and-found-some-more-dat

The investigators surely also have the recordings of the official radar data. Unfortunately, it's pretty conclusive that someone in the cockpit actually had changed the AP setting.

I had heard this data was available, however I had not seen it. In fact, the first set of ADS-B data I had seen was "incomplete"... Once one sees it in black and white, it is pretty obvious that the autopilot was reprogrammed. Thanks for sharing this information. I almost think that makes the event even more sinister then attempting to nosedive the airplane...to change the altitude hold selector, and sit back and watch...
« Last Edit: March 29, 2015, 09:24:34 AM by joeyb747 »

Offline trichorse

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Re: Germanwings 4U-9525 down in France
« Reply #30 on: March 31, 2015, 11:41:45 AM »
Dont trust the media 100% on this one here until final conclusion has been made by the investigation team.

I may not have heard Greg Feith sounding off about this one, but I'd trust "insiders" that were former NTSB investigators more than any other.  My father did not say who the source of the information was, possibly it was an informant on the current investigation, any more than to say the channel he was watching at the time.  While I agree we have to wait for the investigation to be completed and a report of some kind to come out, people are, by nature, are beings who love gossip, speculation, and scandle.

Offline RonR

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Re: Germanwings 4U-9525 down in France
« Reply #31 on: April 03, 2015, 10:10:35 AM »

Offline joeyb747

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Re: Germanwings 4U-9525 down in France
« Reply #32 on: April 08, 2015, 06:16:33 PM »
"On Apr 3rd 2015 the French BEA reported that the flight data recorder was received by the BEA on Apr 2nd 2015, it was opened and a first read out of the data showed, that the pilot in the cockpit used the autopilot to descend the aircraft down to 100 feet, on several occasions the speed of the aircraft was adjusted during the descent."

From:

http://avherald.com/h?article=483a5651&opt=0