Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, you could say that the front fell off. That's not very typical.
I know we're not supposed to upvote or acknowledge jokes on HN, but this was in such good taste I couldn't resist.
[deleted]
Air France A380 over Greenland on Sep 30th: Fan and engine inlet separated
41–50 of 152 posts
Re: Air France A380 over Greenland on Sep 30th: Fan and engine inlet separated
#42> The passengers report they are still on board of the aircraft about 2 hours after landing because the airport does not have stairs to accommodate the A380. Does anybody know how this works? Why not just use any old ladder?
Risk to the passengers. If there is no imminent risk then it is better to wait for the right device than to risk passengers falling off ladders from 10 meters and higher, the A380 is a huge plane and those doors are pretty high up.
Makes sense, but I wonder what they'll end up doing. Nobody's going to be driving a set of A380 compatible air stairs to Goose Bay.
Re: Air France A380 over Greenland on Sep 30th: Fan and engine inlet separated
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Risk to the passengers. If there is no imminent risk then it is better to wait for the right device than to risk passengers falling off ladders from 10 meters and higher, the A380 is a huge plane and those doors are pretty high up.
Makes sense, but I wonder what they'll end up doing. Nobody's going to be driving a set of A380 compatible air stairs to Goose Bay.
You're gonna get hop ons
Re: Air France A380 over Greenland on Sep 30th: Fan and engine inlet separated
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
For what a failing fan disk can do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_232
*For what a failing fan disk could do to a DC-10 built in 1973. Since this accident, hydraulic fuses and backup electronic actuators have become standard.
Uncontained engine failures can still cause a significant amount of damage:
Re: Air France A380 over Greenland on Sep 30th: Fan and engine inlet separated
#45Are there any serious dangers of debris falling over settlements in scenarios like these?
Columbia broke up over the continental United States and a large number of the pieces that did not burn up in reentry were recovered and no one was hurt on the ground by being hit by debris AFAIK. Not sure of the direct comparison but it seems less likely than getting hit by lightning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaste...
Re: Air France A380 over Greenland on Sep 30th: Fan and engine inlet separated
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, primary and backup hydraulics are hopelessly intertwined on this systems diagram, certainly physically. Not sure how much that is going to help against parts flying into it. Which is of course what happened in that linked incident below: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_232 The three hydraulic systems were separate, so that failure of any one of them would leave the crew with full control,…
As your reference points out: "Newer aircraft designs such as the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 have incorporated hydraulic fuses to isolate a punctured section and prevent a total loss of hydraulic fluid." A quick search for "A 380 hydraulic fuses" finds sources like http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=765509 : > If one or both hydraulic systems fail, the following hydro-electrical backups remain available: For…
> And, "hopelessly intertwined"? Is that your viewpoint as a software developer, or are you an aircraft designer? Because I'm sure that an outsider would see my code as "hopelessly intertwined" even when it isn't.
Even with modern aircraft, even with the A380, when a fan lets go or the engine grenades bad things happen.
Qantas Flight 32, an A380, suffered a UCE and everyone was very lucky that there were additional, experienced pilots on board. Take a look at the ATSB report. Pretty much everything that could fail, did. Engine control for the #1 (IIRC) engine had been destroyed and it took the firefighters three hours to pump enough water to shut down the engine. Without the extra crew things could have gone very differently.
British Airways 2276, a 777 -- a plane that has an excellent safety record, suffered a UCE and the plane caught fire. Luckily the pilots were able to abort the takeoff, but fire on a plane is about the worst possible failure mode.
AA #383, a 767, also suffered a UCE on takeoff that resulted in a massive fire.
Cameroon Airlines Flight 786, same deal. UCE, punctured fuel tank, fire.
So, yes, things have almost certainly gotten better but given how much energy is released when a high bypass turbofan lets go, it's pretty damn hard to design something that's completely failsafe.
Re: Air France A380 over Greenland on Sep 30th: Fan and engine inlet separated
#47“The dreaded three engines approach”
Re: Air France A380 over Greenland on Sep 30th: Fan and engine inlet separated
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, you could say that the front fell off. That's not very typical.
I know we're not supposed to upvote or acknowledge jokes on HN, but this was in such good taste I couldn't resist.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
It doesn't say anything about jokes.
Re: Air France A380 over Greenland on Sep 30th: Fan and engine inlet separated
#49Are there any serious dangers of debris falling over settlements in scenarios like these?
Debris from the Qantas A380 engine failure several years back fell on some buildings in Indonesia. Nobody was hurt though.
Re: Air France A380 over Greenland on Sep 30th: Fan and engine inlet separated
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Risk to the passengers. If there is no imminent risk then it is better to wait for the right device than to risk passengers falling off ladders from 10 meters and higher, the A380 is a huge plane and those doors are pretty high up.
Makes sense, but I wonder what they'll end up doing. Nobody's going to be driving a set of A380 compatible air stairs to Goose Bay.
They can bring a fire ladder.
They could also use the self-inflatable chutes, but those are likely to create injuries, so they are an option of last resort.