Posted on 01/25/2010 12:23:22 AM PST by Cardhu
Interesting.
ET-409 Incident - 25 January, 2010
Ethiopian flight ET-409 scheduled to operate from Beirut to Addis Ababa on January 25th lost contact with the Lebanese air controllers shortly after take off. The flight departed at 02:35 Lebanese time from Beirut International Airport.
Flight ET-409 carries 82 passenger plus 8 Ethiopian Crew members. Out of the total passengers 23 are Ethiopian, 51 Lebanese, 1 Turkish, 1 French, 2 British, 1 Russian, 1 Canadian, 1 Syrian, 1 Iraqi national.
(RE: Flash 604)
At first glance, it looks like a typical stall-spin scenario; where the two subordinate pilots were reluctant to intervene forcefully.
A closer look leads me to imagine that the underlying issue was a broken control cable; the one controlling the right aileron. If so, the reason for no mayday was that the Captain didn’t recognize the actual cause, and kept trying to bring the aircraft under control, using inadequate inputs. He probably thought — “spacial disorientation.”
If this is so, his pride kept him from calling. and thereby acknowledging that he had goofed. He thought he could pull out, and no one would know.
DG
p.s. Sorry, I cannot give this the treatment it deserves. Illness
It doesn’t seem likely that either wx OR terrorism was the sole cause. I’ll think on it.
No, you’re right...I think it was something mechanical that made the weather too much for them.
Ping to a thread about the anomalies of the Ethiopian Airliner crash.
Doorgunner has the aviation analysis.
Some further information from AP/Yahoo:
>>”...the tower had asked the pilot “to correct his path but he did a very fast and strange turn before disappearing completely from the radar.”
>>”...the Boeing 737 is equipped with its own onboard weather radar which the pilot may have used to avoid flying into thunderheads.”
>>”...air traffic control was guiding the Ethiopian flight through the thunderstorms...”
>>”The Lebanese army and witnesses say the plane was on fire shortly after takeoff. A defense official also said some witnesses reported the plane broke up into three pieces.”
I suppose that it is possible for an aircraft to break into 3 pieces, and catch fire, due to a thunderstorm. It seems much more likely to be “man-caused.”
DG
Thanks, just seems to me that the lack of any communication from the plane points to a catastrophic, man made disaster.
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