AirAsia plane missing between Indonesia and Malaysia

[Liquid Charlie]

Surprised no one hasn't thrown it out the -- airbus fears of yesteryear -- lightning and scrambled computers -- also depending on the build date the 320 could be pushing the ageing aeroplane group and electronics are part of that -- and yes I know lightning strikes usually don't effect much having enjoyed several myself but there is always that chance -- hopefully the recorders will give us some insight --

[CD]

-- also depending on the build date the 320 could be pushing the ageing aeroplane group and electronics are part of that --

Aeroplane information:

Type: Airbus A320-216
Operator: Indonesia AirAsia
Registration: PK-AXC
C/n / msn: 3648
First flight: 2008-09-25 (6 years 3 months)
Total airframe hrs: 23000
Engines: 2 CFMI CFM56-5B6/3
Cycles: 13600

[Liquid Charlie]

The internet is a wonderful thing

[Illya Kuryakin]

I'm not really qualified to speculate but, at max altitude, in a heavy 320, what's the playing field between high and low speed (coffin corner, if you must) stall? 8-10 kts?
Illya

[Eric Janson]

I'm not really qualified to speculate but, at max altitude, in a heavy 320, what's the playing field between high and low speed (coffin corner, if you must) stall? 8-10 kts?
Illya

Closer to 40 knots indicated airspeed. Max Altitude will still give 1.3G buffet margins.

A much bigger problem may be that if the speed gets below "Green Dot" you may not have enough thrust to recover the speed. The only way to get speed back is to descend.

[Illya Kuryakin]

I'm not really qualified to speculate but, at max altitude, in a heavy 320, what's the playing field between high and low speed (coffin corner, if you must) stall? 8-10 kts?
Illya

Closer to 40 knots indicated airspeed. Max Altitude will still give 1.3G buffet margins.

A much bigger problem may be that if the speed gets below "Green Dot" you may not have enough thrust to recover the speed. The only way to get speed back is to descend.

Sounds like the Air France scenario, and nobody regognized it?
Illya

[Eric Janson]

Sounds like the Air France scenario, and nobody recognized it?
Illya

There's a great deal of speculation and very little factual information available at present. What is being reported may turn out to be incorrect. A bit premature to talk about another Air France 447 imho.

I've flown the A320 in the Asian Monsoon - it's a very capable aircraft.

[flyinthebug]

I'm not really qualified to speculate but, at max altitude, in a heavy 320, what's the playing field between high and low speed (coffin corner, if you must) stall? 8-10 kts?
Illya

Closer to 40 knots indicated airspeed. Max Altitude will still give 1.3G buffet margins.

A much bigger problem may be that if the speed gets below "Green Dot" you may not have enough thrust to recover the speed. The only way to get speed back is to descend.

Sounds like the Air France scenario, and nobody regognized it?
Illya

This article would seem to support your theory Illya...one body found with a life jacket on...so they knew something had gone sideways.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/air ... srcref=rss

[GyvAir]

They retracted the statement about the lifejacket being worn about a day after it was first reported. There's been a ton of "facts" come and go on this accident already. At one point they had recovered 40 bodies.. a few hours later they were back down to just three. Then back up to 10, of which 3 or 4 were reportedly found holding hands.

[cncpc]

There is now a story in the Guardian quoting some aviation magazine guy saying that an emergency landing was executed well enough that the ELT didn't go off, or the water switch didn't set it off.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/j ... ned-family

The first question would be "Why no Mayday"?

[GyvAir]

Would an ELT mounted in an Airbus have water activation capability? I've only seen that feature on EPIRBs, not on hard mounted ELTs.
I probably shouldn't be, but I'm surprised at the mish-mash of media coverage on this. With all the recent practice the media and the spokespeople have had, I would have thought there would be a little less misinformation this time around. Seems like even worse than the MH370 circus so far. I guess reporters will always run with anything to fill a headline or a sound bite though, no matter if it makes any sense or not.

[Illya Kuryakin]

It's what happens when National Enquirer gets there befor CNN.
Illya

[GyvAir]

It's what happens when National Enquirer gets there befor CNN.

Or vice versa..

[Antique Pilot]

I was listening to the anchor person on CTV NewsNet today interviewing an aviation expert. She asked the expert if the pilots would stall the aircraft on purpose.

AP

[Illya Kuryakin]

I was listening to the anchor person on CTV NewsNet today interviewing an aviation expert. She asked the expert if the pilots would stall the aircraft on purpose.

AP

To us, it's a dumb question. To her, it's just a question. Get over it.
Illya

[boeingboy]

There is now a story in the Guardian quoting some aviation magazine guy saying that an emergency landing was executed well enough that the ELT didn't go off, or the water switch didn't set it off.

What a load of crap - Why is it ever since US air, that everyone thinks every accident had a happy landing on the water. It is next to impossible in most circumstances.

Certainly in this case. They could not successfully ditch the aircraft in seas rough enough to topple it over and drown everyone afterwards. ???

[2R]

[quote from Eric

I've flown the A320 in the Asian Monsoon - it's a very capable aircraft.[/quote]


How does it handle 54,000 foot thunder cells ?

[grimey]

It's what happens when National Enquirer gets there befor CNN.
Illya

Well you say that, but Don Lemon asked if a black hole could have eaten MH370.

And Wolf... oh, Wolf:



CNN hasn't cared about anything except ratings in 20 years.

[pdw]

54000 ft ? And they're at 32 ?

Sounds like the Air France scenario, and nobody recognized it?
Illya

There's a great deal of speculation and very little factual information available at present. What is being reported may turn out to be incorrect. A bit premature to talk about another Air France 447 imho.

I've flown the A320 in the Asian Monsoon - it's a very capable aircraft.

One similarity ... maybe:

QZ was approaching a large single cell ded ahead in their flight path from which they deviated left (7 miles?), which was blocking the wider cell/convection behind it ... sort of like 447 crew when adjusting their radar to assess activity behind a smaller one just before they got there ...

[ikarus]

It seems strange but many of the aircraft in the vicinity of AirAsia have kept their respective tracks pretty much on course...now it is hard to notice minor deviations on Radar24 or similar software ....so it could be deceiving.

Hope they find the boxes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYHY6rCBVz4

[GyvAir]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYHY6rCBVz4

That video depicts the flight terminating 100s of miles beyond where most other reports say it was last tracked on radar and where they are finding debris.
If otherwise accurate, it does show a quite a bit of traffic quite close by at the point where it did go down.

[flyinthebug]

21 more bodies recovered today...some still strapped in their seats.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/at-least-30 ... -1.2169629

[ikarus]

yes I know...apparently the dashed lines are where the aircraft flight trajectory is assumed to be, since that area doesn't have ADS-B radar coverage....so you are right, the crash site seems to be before the last image on the map.

[GyvAir]

Ah.. I didn't notice that the line changes past the crash site.

[cncpc]

Looks like the main wreckage has been found.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/j ... -indonesia