Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Germanwings A320 crash: Plane fell for 18 minutes (not 8)
The Scotsman ^ | March 25, 2015

Posted on 03/25/2015 5:24:23 AM PDT by maggief

NEW evidence has emerged that the Germanwings Airbus A320 that crashed in southern France yesterday dived for 18 minutes, and not eight as previously thought.

France’s Transport Minister Segolene Royal said this morning that the crew had stopped responding to radio messages at 10.30am, with the plane flying over the Mediterranean sea.

The aircraft crashed into the side of a mountain in the French Alps at 10.48am, suggesting that the plane had descended from 28,000ft to 2,000ft without signalling an emergency.

Ms Royal added that events in the cockpit in the 60 seconds between 10.30am and 10.31am were ‘crucial’ and could shed light on what caused the disaster.

(Excerpt) Read more at scotsman.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Germany; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 201503; 20150324; airlinesecurity; alps; aviation; barcelona; dusseldorf; europe; frenchalps; germanwings; mediterranean
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 101-120121-140141-160161-173 next last
To: southland
If it ain’t Boeing I ain’t going

Lots of dead people there too. I know, I have more flying time in Boeing than in Airbus aircraft.
121 posted on 03/25/2015 7:55:43 AM PDT by Tzfat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 100 | View Replies]

To: McGruff
Next question, what were the last communications?

Someone shouting "allahu akbar"?

122 posted on 03/25/2015 7:57:31 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Falcon 105)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Tzfat

Good! Thanks for the corrections and info!


123 posted on 03/25/2015 7:57:54 AM PDT by null and void (He who kills a tyrant (i.e. an usurper) to free his country is praised and rewarded ~ Thomas Aquinas)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 117 | View Replies]

To: kjam22
I just refuse to believe that the autopilot flew the plane from 38000 feet into mountains at 2000 feet while the pilots were sitting there, alert, doing their job, and somehow they just didn’t notice it until it was to late to do anything about it. You can argue that all day, but I won’t believe it.

You are very right. In the realm of all possibilities, this is not only the last, it is impossible.
124 posted on 03/25/2015 7:57:56 AM PDT by Tzfat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 112 | View Replies]

To: zipper
A rapid depressurization would put the crew to a test, of which they only have seconds to pass.

True, but one that pilots have trained for since the dawn of the jet age. Aviation physiology is something we pilots are extremely well-versed in. Our O2 masks are inches from our heads, and we can don them in a less than a second in one motion. They are automatically pressurized the moment the handle is pulled and they wrap around our heads like an octopus automatically. We use them a lot.

Smoke, maybe. Structural failure (dead pilots), maybe. Hypoxia, unlikely.
125 posted on 03/25/2015 8:02:18 AM PDT by Tzfat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 120 | View Replies]

To: Tzfat
I know Sully. If he said that, it would not matter. He has no credentials to prop up such a statement.

It's irrefutable, all on the video (link on my previous post to all).

His credentials are impeccable. He offers a sober opinion, and despite being a superb A320 pilot (retired) is not blinded by brand loyalty.

126 posted on 03/25/2015 8:02:19 AM PDT by zipper (In their heart of hearts, all Democrats are communists)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 114 | View Replies]

To: Tzfat
Muslims must, as a matter of plain common sense, be restricted to an all Muslim Airlines, or at least all Muslim flights. Period.

Muslim passengers. Muslim crew. Muslim maintenance. Very high baggage security. One Muslim on a flight, is one too many, regardless of age or sex. Biggest danger: Albanian, Bosnian Muslims, Germanized Turks, Frenchified-Worthy Oriental Gentlemen, etc. who clean-up to normal Euro-standard, and of course, the deranged "converts." Profile the hell out of'em.

This is an act of war. Commercial aircraft do not go silent at 38 Thousand feet and fly on for 18 minutes (perhaps 175 miles) on their own. Show me the passenger list.

127 posted on 03/25/2015 8:04:32 AM PDT by Kenny Bunk ( Obama told us what he'd do, and did it. How about your Republican Representative?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 111 | View Replies]

To: PLMerite

18 minutes of descent. I don’t have my protractor handy but it was not a very steep angle and the pieces are so small.

I don’t trust anyone to say the truth anymore so I’ll just make it up myself.


128 posted on 03/25/2015 8:05:57 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: Tzfat
Not less than a second, that's an exaggeration, but a few seconds is the standard.

Aviation physiology is something we pilots are extremely well-versed in.

Not civilian pilots, they don't get crucial altitude chamber training.

129 posted on 03/25/2015 8:06:40 AM PDT by zipper (In their heart of hearts, all Democrats are communists)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 125 | View Replies]

To: Tucker39

I would also imagine that air traffic control noticed the decent from the approved flight altitude and tried to contact the aircraft.


130 posted on 03/25/2015 8:06:58 AM PDT by jpsb (Believe nothing until it has been officially denied)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: kjam22
A computer controlled mechanical dial? Really?

Is there some prohibition against this in avionics? Many automobiles use "analog" displays driven by computer signals. All the sensors - vehicle speed, coolant temp, oil pressure, etc. - report to the computer, which in turn sends output to the instrument panel. There are even analog speedometers that connect only to power, ground and a gps antenna.

131 posted on 03/25/2015 8:07:32 AM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 109 | View Replies]

To: zipper
His credentials are impeccable. He offers a sober opinion

Contradictory statement: it is his opinion. He is not an engineer. He is an average airline pilot that did what any airline pilot could do if it happened at the same place at the same time.

Like I said, I know Sully. He is a fine pilot, in other words, he is like most everyone else I fly with - but knowing how to fly does not make your opinion of the engineering of an aircraft any more valid than another pilot's.

But, if the ability to land an Airbus in the Hudson makes for credentials, you really need to ask FO Skiles what he thinks of Sully's opinions.
132 posted on 03/25/2015 8:09:27 AM PDT by Tzfat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 126 | View Replies]

To: Tzfat; null and void; zipper; All
Uh oh...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/world/europe/germanwings-airbus-crash.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

PARIS — Rescuers resumed the difficult task of searching for the 150 victims of a deadly plane crash in the French Alps, as the search for clues was dealt a setback Wednesday afternoon.

Investigators said they had so far been unable to retrieve any data from the plane’s cockpit voice recorder, and the inquiry has been hampered further, an official said, by the discovery that the second black box, which was found on Wednesday, was severely damaged, and its memory card dislodged and missing.

133 posted on 03/25/2015 8:10:52 AM PDT by maggief
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 125 | View Replies]

To: Charles Martel
Is there some prohibition against this in avionics? Many automobiles use "analog" displays driven by computer signals. All the sensors - vehicle speed, coolant temp, oil pressure, etc. - report to the computer, which in turn sends output to the instrument panel. There are even analog speedometers that connect only to power, ground and a gps antenna.

No, the primary altimeters are not dials. There are two Primary Flight Displays (PFD), which are digital screens. The altitude is displayed as a digital readout, as well as an altitude "tape." There is a backup digital screen with digital readout for altitude.
134 posted on 03/25/2015 8:11:49 AM PDT by Tzfat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 131 | View Replies]

To: maggief

Interesting that it was “dislodged and missing”... as opposed to missing but not dislodged.... :)


135 posted on 03/25/2015 8:11:59 AM PDT by kjam22 (my music video "If My People" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74b20RjILy4)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 133 | View Replies]

To: zipper
Not civilian pilots, they don't get crucial altitude chamber training.

First, many civilian pilots have had altitude chamber training.

Second, it does not take altitude chamber training to know aviation physiology. All the altitude chamber teaches is that you can be an idiot faster than you thought. Most professional pilots are acutely aware of the effects of hypoxia, because it is constantly trained in initial and recurrent training for every aircraft and crew position change.
136 posted on 03/25/2015 8:14:49 AM PDT by Tzfat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 129 | View Replies]

To: ImJustAnotherOkie
but it was not a very steep angle and the pieces are so small.

Don't forget to take into account that they flew into a near vertical surface, there are reports that some of the slopes involved are 80°!

137 posted on 03/25/2015 8:14:50 AM PDT by null and void (He who kills a tyrant (i.e. an usurper) to free his country is praised and rewarded ~ Thomas Aquinas)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 128 | View Replies]

To: zipper

re: Not civilian pilots, they don’t get crucial altitude chamber training.

Make that “most don’t”.
They can get it if they want to.
I did.


138 posted on 03/25/2015 8:15:50 AM PDT by Boundless (Survive Obamacare by not needing it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 129 | View Replies]

To: Tzfat
From the pictures I've seen, the large debris field (mostly small pieces extending over several ridges and valleys, some major pieces widely separated in the valleys) would indicate a complete breakup of the aircraft before it hit the ground - but not at high altitude as the wreckage is too concentrated. That is puzzling, but the pictures we have seen may not be of the complete scene. From the available ones, there does not seem to be a definitive point of impact.

I'm sure the flight data recorder will clear most of this mystery up. This crash certainly has a lot of strange things going for it and it will be "one for the books".

One thing seems certain at this point, though - the pilots were somehow incapacitated and probably early on in the beginning of the accident sequence.

139 posted on 03/25/2015 8:18:54 AM PDT by Gritty (Obama is fighting on the side of our enemies, therefore, committing treason - David Meir-Levy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 124 | View Replies]

To: JLAGRAYFOX
How come the media & governments are not telling us that there were THIRTY-NINE (39) Turkish citizens on board the ill-fated German Wings aircraft?

Given the nationality numbers in an earlier post where are you coming up with 39 Turkish citizens? There were 6 flight crew members and 144 passengers ... total 150.

140 posted on 03/25/2015 8:19:42 AM PDT by BluH2o
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 101-120121-140141-160161-173 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson