Even if the plane had no power, why couldn't they have glided it down safely?
how do you "safely" glide into a city?
Preliminary report into Air India crash released
161–170 of 924 posts
Re: Preliminary report into Air India crash released
#162it makes sense to me that the pilot who said "I did not do it" actually did do it without realizing it, was supposed to be putting the landing gear up when he committed a muscle memory mistake. it happened around the time the landing gear should be up, and this explanation matches what was said in the cockpit, and the fact that the landing gear wasn't retracted. I think this idea was even floated initially by the you…
If you shut off the engines a couple of dozen meters above ground shouldn’t every alarm be blaring or there should be some sort of additional lever you have to pull way out of the way to enable shutting off the engine that close to the ground.
Re: Preliminary report into Air India crash released
#163It's safe to state these fuel cutoff switches aren't to be touched in-flight unless the word 'fire' is said beforehand. Even then, you only perform fuel cutoff for the flaming engine. If the copilot was busy with takeoff, there is exactly one other person in the entire world that could have flipped both switches. We may never know which one flipped them back.
Re: Preliminary report into Air India crash released
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
If this is what actually happened it would be the second in recent memory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanwings_Flight_9525 .
Third, since there's no other plausible explanation for this and China has classified the report. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Eastern_Airlines_Flight_...
Re: Preliminary report into Air India crash released
#165[flagged]
> This was not suicide, or murder-suicide; it was one of the most horrific mass murders in history, in which the guy that did it happened to lose his life in the process.
Even taking intent for granted, to deny suicide in a case like this would be to suppose that the person responsible expected to survive while everyone else died. What could possibly support that conclusion?
Re: Preliminary report into Air India crash released
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
People do things bizarre, inexplicable things all the time. It's called a brain fart... the human brain is complicated, sometimes wires just get crossed. Honestly I think the chances are good that you're right, but the way you're presenting it as absolutely certain strikes me as overconfident, borderline arrogant. Also, what's with the whole "staking your reputation" thing? What reputation? Are you some kind of famou…
Well, you do now. :) It’s mostly a very public "If I’m wrong, I won’t ever do this again." I’ve been writing informative HN comments since 2008 on various accounts. It’s a big deal to me not to spread misinformation or be mistaken in a situation like this. The victims also deserve to be acknowledged. At this point the overwhelming body of evidence points to a deliberate act. Pilots are trained never to touch the fuel…
> It’s a big deal to me not to spread misinformation or be mistaken in a situation like this.
Then why not either wait until there's more information or temper your remarks by acknowledging there's still ambiguity? That would directly hedge against spreading misinformation, whereas staking your reputation on it and then shutting up if you're wrong only works after the misinformation has spread and doesn't seem very productive.
I think the right response to realizing you've spread misinformation (in the event that you turn out to be mistaken [I think it's 60-40 in favor of deliberate]) is to temper your statements and rededicate yourself to checking the facts, not removing yourself from the discussion altogether. And if you were keeping your mouth shut, wouldn't you continue to see discussions you could meaningfully contribute to, and after a while wouldn't you wonder whether anyone was really benefitting from your silence?
Re: Preliminary report into Air India crash released
#167[dead]
Re: Preliminary report into Air India crash released
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you look at the photo https://theaircurrent.com/aviation-safety/ai171-investigatio... it would be pretty hard to get them by mistake.
I have a couple of those type of switches, though smaller, in my parts bin. They were from some piece of surplus equipment that got junked. Where I've seen them used is in a crowded control panel where they might just get bumped. The two red plastic levers to the left are another type of safety switch: The lever is spring loaded, and covers the handle of a toggle switch. In my view it would be quite hard to move them…
There’s no way even the clumsiest person could accidentally pull both out, rotate, and push back in, accidentally within 1 second.
Re: Preliminary report into Air India crash released
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no possible way to confuse these two actions. There's a reason a wheel is attached to the gear lever.
Sometimes people put cleaning liquid in the fridge. Given a long enough span of time, every possible fuck up eventually will happen.
Probably time to design a plane that can't be sent into terrain in seconds by flipping a switch.
Re: Preliminary report into Air India crash released
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think engine fires are still more common than suicidal pilots and inadvertant fuel shutoff activations.
The idea would be something that is ONLY operational after V₁ and until some safe height. Or maybe a design that prevents both switches being off (flip flop?) for X minutes after wheel weight is removed? Again, it’s probably pointless but it’s an interesting thought exercise. Suicidal pilots are apparently more common than we’d want.
The flip flop thing is a neat idea since a single engine can typically maintain level flight and two burning engines is rare.