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Aeroflot deactivates brakes on nine aircraft, relies solely on reverse thrust

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131–140 of 386 posts

Re: Aeroflot deactivates brakes on nine aircraft, relies solely on reverse thrust

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have a word for US movies and books portraying Russia: "klukva" (cranberry). Because in every US made movie and US written book amount of lies and confabulations about Russian history and Russian culture is so high, that it deserves a special word. E.g. I was reading a book recently by John le Carré and had to stop after reading about 50 pages. I simply couldn't continue. E.g. there's a scene where Russian traitor…

> Firstly, there are no Chechen restaurants. Especially in the center of St. Petersburg. I don't know why, but anybody living here in Russia wouldn't be able to find any Chechen restaurant in Moscow or St. Petersburg. Russian, Ukranian [sic], Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, whatever, but not Chechen. In case anyone was curious, there is a halal cafe called "Брат" ("Brat", meaning brother) in central Saint Petersburg which…

That's great what someone treats the cafe as a restaurant. It doesn't make it a restaurant, though.

And what about vodka in Chechen restaurant?

Re: Aeroflot deactivates brakes on nine aircraft, relies solely on reverse thrust

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is just open racism

I think it's more directed to the regime not valuing citizen lives rather than racism against Russians?

Technically there is no way it could be definded as "racism" (Russian is not a race).

But IDK what would be a proper term for a cituation when a person doesn't like something about the politics of higher government echelons and starts filling blanks by projecting it down to every comissioner, manager, certification auditor, mechanic or even every household?

Re: Aeroflot deactivates brakes on nine aircraft, relies solely on reverse thrust

#133
post #28

I'm curious the actual mechanics of this operation. The main primary-source I found is a Telegram post of an Aeroflot pilot memo [0], but this only discusses the side-effects of reverser only braking, not the mechanics of "disabling the brakes." There is a possibility the brakes are still available and not worn through, and this is a preemptive measure to leave enough brake material to handle an emergency rejected ta…

Thank you for that link. In case anyone else is wondering, this is a Telegram chat with actual pilots in it. There is currently a lot of cursing in that thread about stupid sensational news on the topic, along with an actual explanation. Aeroflot is disabling 1 out of 4 brakes, not all 4. Nobody is actually trying to stop a plane with just reverse thrusters.

[deleted]

Re: Aeroflot deactivates brakes on nine aircraft, relies solely on reverse thrust

#134
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect they'll start making their own, if they haven't already been.

they don't have proper specs, manufacturing equipment, materials, engineers, machinists, etc. they been trying to source parts from india, china, iran, etc.

For sure, they will be using half-butted homegrown (or made in those countries) clones, just like you would see in the Soviet era. It will lead to a gradual but increasing incidence of air disasters. Russian friends, please avoid flying if you can.

Re: Aeroflot deactivates brakes on nine aircraft, relies solely on reverse thrust

#135
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the more apples-to-apples comparison here would be a train without breaks, wouldn't it be? After all, people can sabotage airfields and airplanes as well.

> I think the more apples-to-apples comparison here would be a train without breaks, wouldn't it be No. Not really. Russia has the means to produce brakes for their trains. They do not have the means to do the same for these airplanes. So the reality on the ground is that the trains have brakes while the airplanes don't (or they have breaks but with rapidly aging out of compliance parts.)

maybe they can make train brakes, but they can't make bearings.

Re: Aeroflot deactivates brakes on nine aircraft, relies solely on reverse thrust

#136

Take off and landing aside, can you properly control the aircraft on the ground without brakes? I'm thinking of stopping at hold short lines, at the gate, etc. How precise, responsive is reverse thrust in those cases? Or will they get picked up by those little cars and pulled right after landing?

It's not very responsive at all. Nor is it meant for this purpose. It's just a brake assist for use on the runway. Also, reverse trust is hard to maneuver with considering you will immediately start reversing once you've stopped moving. Unlike a brake that has a stop as an "end state". If they really start taxiing using that it'll lead to collisions at least, I'm sure, because of unintended reversing. It's a harebrai…

My thoughts as well: go through the crazy "look ma, no brakes!" emergency routine for landing and use the remaining pads for taxiing. Not an aircraft engineer, but my guess would be that the pad wear for one regular landing would be good for a decade or two of what's consumed during taxiing.

(and when the inevitable accident happens, the victims' suffering will at the same time be acclaimed as heroic sacrifice and a called out as a direct attack by "evil nato, how dare they not give us what we need for business as usual". Chances are less people will die for this propaganda stunt than in the apartment bombings)

Re: Aeroflot deactivates brakes on nine aircraft, relies solely on reverse thrust

#137
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think the more apples-to-apples comparison here would be a train without breaks, wouldn't it be No. Not really. Russia has the means to produce brakes for their trains. They do not have the means to do the same for these airplanes. So the reality on the ground is that the trains have brakes while the airplanes don't (or they have breaks but with rapidly aging out of compliance parts.)

> No. Not really. Russia has the means to produce brakes for their trains. They do not have the means to do the same for these airplanes. I meant in terms of riders' perceptions of safety, not industrial capacity. That being said, it astounds me that Russia can't fabricate replacement breaks here: we're talking about a country with some of the best metallurgists in the world and a domestic aerospace industry; what gi…

where from you got idea about "best metallurgists" ? and domestic aerospace industry is a boutique shop (especially when we are talking about civilian planes) that mostly relies on foreign components. their production goals are like 10 planes a year

Re: Aeroflot deactivates brakes on nine aircraft, relies solely on reverse thrust

#138
post #18
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what if the bus is even more dangerous? :-)

It most likely is and that's also Russia's responsibility. Remember: This is a country that projects itself as a technological soon-to-be-world-leader while it's actually a glorified gas stop with nukes that USSR era scientists/technologists built using stolen US tech well before the brain drain of the 90s and onwards.

> stolen US tech

Techological progress doesn't work that way.

This as basically as claiming that everyone stole from Russians because they created the first periodic table. Or that everyone stole from Germans because WWII scientists.

Re: Aeroflot deactivates brakes on nine aircraft, relies solely on reverse thrust

#139
post #26

This is probably going to be just the tip of the iceberg. There was already articles around cannibalisation of planes so that you can service and repair an ever dwindling number of aircraft. If it keeps going on for another year or two it's not going to be good

This literally happens everyday, everywhere and to every airline. Sometimes even between airlines.

I’ve personally been responsible for a part getting pulled off another engine from another airline and swapped for one that got its electrical connector damaged so the engine would ship on time.

There is a whole industry of buyers and sellers of 2nd hand aircraft parts.

Re: Aeroflot deactivates brakes on nine aircraft, relies solely on reverse thrust

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't doubt for a minute that Western media is filled with all kinds of ridiculous apocrypha about Russia. At the same time, I've never encountered this kind of ridiculous sensitivity about a country's perception before. Do you think every American drives a pickup truck and owns 12 guns? You probably don't, because you're not a fool; similarly, most Americans don't think that Russians live their lives swizzling vod…

> this kind of ridiculous sensitivity about a country's perception before What's up with these emotive labels? Lots of people (myself included) enjoy klyukva - it's an awesome source of hilariously absurd content. But you'd be surprised how often it actually leaks into supposedly serious reasoning, constantly making you question exactly how far (not even "if") the person you are talking to is detached from objective…

I'd say the anecdote about Sarah Palin saying "I can see Russia from my house" is related. Plenty of Americans think she actually said it even though it came from SNL.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sarah-palin-russia-house/

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