It is possible that the autopilot was not the cause of the crash of the Airbus at Toulouse. The aircraft was already been pushed to the edge of its operating envelope. Weather conditions were bad to begin with. The test in progress involved making the aircraft tail heavy by put tons of water in tanks at the aft section of the aircraft. The testing was then done with one engine at idle power and one hydraulic loop shut off. The aircraft took off and the autopilot was set to climb to 2000 feet. As the airspeed dropped to 100 knots, with a stall speed of 118 knots, the aircraft started to roll towards the side with the engine at idle. The flight crew then reduced power on the other engine to try to counteract the roll. Airspeed dropped further and the nose dropped. There were modifications to the autopilot that were being studied during the test, so the autopilot may have played a role. It is unclear whether the delay in disengaging the autopilot was due to problems i! n the computer system or if it was just the pilots having too much to do in a limited time.
Details are at the following link. http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19940630-0 Ted Eckert Compliance Engineer Microsoft Corporation [email protected] The opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. From: Pettit, Ghery [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 1:55 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Toyota -- Comment on Software and Electronics for Safety I believe aircraft (at least, fighters) had a "War Emergency" throttle setting that was accessed by breaking some glass by pushing the throttle (and prop and mixture?) forward extra hard. A "give it all it's got, to heck with longevity" setting that was not normally used. It would be interesting to read the French equivalent of the US NTSB report on that airbus crash. In any case, every comment I've read blames the plane for not allowing the pilots to push the envelope a bit trying to avoid those trees. Ghery S. Pettit From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Woodgate Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 1:46 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] Toyota -- Comment on Software and Electronics for Safety In message <4c5e6457cd7911469a07260381288c2860f54...@orsmsx502.amr.corp.intel.com>, dated Mon, 1 Mar 2010, "Pettit, Ghery" <[email protected]> writes: > In the Paris incident the pilots tried to exceed the performance >envelope to clear the trees and the computer wouldn't let them. I've >seen video of the crash. Not good. So the computer crashed the plane from level flight to prevent it stalling and crashing. But the performance envelope limits surely have a 'safety factor' built in, so the plane might not have stalled if the pilots tried to gain JUST enough height, not pulled the stick back regardless. I think a re-think is indicated. Didn't WW2 US naval craft have an engine telegraph position 'Flank speed', aka 'GTHOH', which 'pushed the envelope' quite hard? -- OOO - Own Opinions Only. Try www.jmwa.demon.co.uk and www.isce.org.uk John Woodgate, J M Woodgate and Associates, Rayleigh, Essex UK I should be disillusioned, but it's not worth the effort. - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]> - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]> - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]>
