I wonder if the crash was caused by mixup of knots for feet per second?
On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 2:15 PM, Henschel Mark <[email protected]> wrote: > Interesting, but I still think the FAA should be covered under Executive > Order 12270. > > Mark > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Carleton MacDonald <[email protected]> > Date: Monday, July 8, 2013 8:18 am > Subject: [USMA:53034] Re: FAA must Metricate > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > > > > > I learned to fly in the San Francisco Bay Area, and, back when traffic > was much lighter, flew air taxis in and out of San Francisco International > Airport.****** > > ** ** > > The weather on Saturday was absolutely clear, bright sun, light wind. The > wind is normally out of the west so landing operations are made on runways > 28L and 28R. When the weather is good, pilots will either be cleared for > an ILS (Instrument Landing System) approach, or a visual approach. For the > latter, there are two sets of lights on either side of the runway, called > VASI (for Visual Approach Slope Indicator). These lights shine up at an > angle. If you are above the angle they appear white; if you are below the > angle, they appear red.**** > > ** ** > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_approach_slope_indicator**** > > ** ** > > The idea is to have the lights closer to the approach end of the runway > appear white, and the ones farther away appear red. That means your > descent angle is between the two and you will touch down between them. > With those, you descend by looking at the lights (so you are on the proper > descent angle) and your airspeed indicator (so you don’t stall). This is > private pilot stuff.**** > > ** ** > > The pilot of this particular Boeing 777 had only 44 hours in type. (This > includes cruising time, as well as takeoffs and landings.) He came in too > slow for some unknown reason and the airplane was about to stall. Finally > recognizing this he applied full throttle but the B777 is a ponderous beast > and doesn’t respond the way a small airplane would. There was not enough > time or altitude to recover. The tail struck the seawall at the approach > end of rwy 28L and broke off and the rest was inevitable. I’m surprised he > didn’t take out the approach lights while he was at it.**** > > ** ** > > Had he coupled his ILS instruments to the rwy 28L ILS the plane would have > been brought in automatically and all he would have had to do was to pull > back the throttles to land. Airbus aircraft have more systems to help keep > the pilot out of trouble; a voice counts down the aititude to the ground > (based on a radar altimeter, so it’s actual height above the ground, not > height above sea level, although at SFO the two are essentially the same): > “Four hundred, three hundred, two hundred, one hundred, fifty, forty, > thirty, twenty, retard, retard, retard” – the last being an admonition to > the pilot to pull back (retard) the throttles. I don’t know if Boeing > aircraft do this – Boeing’s philosophy is different, they give the pilot > more freedom/leeway/room to hang himself/etc. I suspect if had been an > Airbus the plane would have recognized that he was in a precarious > situation and all kinds of warnings would have been going off in the > cockpit.**** > > ** ** > > This had nothing to do with US vs. metric altitude indications.**** > > ** ** > > Carleton**** > > ** ** > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] *On > Behalf Of *Henschel Mark > > *Sent:* Monday, July 08, 2013 06:31 > > *To:* U.S. Metric Association > > *Cc:* U.S. Metric Association > > *Subject:* [USMA:53033] Re: FAA must Metricate**** > > ** ** > > korean pilot **** > > admit to that **** > > i wonder when the faa will go metric**** > > part of e.o. 12270**** > > ** ** > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Bruce Arkwright Jr <[email protected]> > > Date: Monday, July 8, 2013 12:41 am > > Subject: [USMA:53031] FAA must Metricate > > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > > > > > What if that poor tired Vietnamese pilot, forget he had hit the > > > convert button, after crossing into our air space, but still > > > read meters instead of feet as he aproched the landing strip? > > > Will FAA emit to that? At any rate its time for FAA to get on board! > > > > > > > > > Bruce E. Arkwright, Jr > > > Erie PA > > > Linux and Metric User and Enforcer > > > > > > > > > I will only invest in nukes that are 150 gigameters away. How > > > much solar energy have you collected today? > > > Id put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of > > > power! I hope we dont have to wait til oil and coal run out > > > before we tackle that. I wish I had a few more years left. -- > > > Thomas Edison♽☯♑ > > > **** > > > -- Sincerely, Edward B.
