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PILOT ERROR?
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By Reza
from the Now I've Heard It All department, Section Complete and Total Nonsense
Posted on Tue Oct 26, 2004 at 06:50:35 PM GMT
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Pilot Error Blamed for Flight 587 Crash?
"American Airlines Flight 587 lost its tail and plummeted into a New York City neighborhood in November 2001, killing 265 people, because the co-pilot improperly used the rudder to try to steady the plane, federal safety investigators ruled Tuesday."
Who's smokin' the crack??
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Ok, basic flight aerodynamics says that to control pitch, you move the elevator; to control roll, you use the ailerons; and to control yaw, you move the rudder.
The accusation is that the co-pilot over-controlled the rudder in attempts to correct for roll.
--A. See above- rudder doesn't control roll.
--B. Even if he did mash back and forth on the rudder pedals, what should have happened was a bunch of people getting sick, NOT the tail falling off.
Now American Airlines has supposedly been teaching thier pilots that the RUDDER controls ROLL?
Maybe they have too many marketing 'droids running the company and not enough technical minded people, but something is wrong with that picture!
"Airbus claimed the airline failed to properly train its pilots to fly the jet, while American accused Airbus of failing to disclose problems with the rudder system."
If the Airbus aircraft is that finecky on the control inputs, it shouldn't be used for passenger service. Passenger aircraft should be dynamically STABLE and shouldn't need to be flown with kid gloves (and shoes, for that matter!)
Maybe the copilot was improperly trained (even though when faced with the exact same situation no other pilot made that same decision...debunking the training myth...) but I don't care how hard he stomps on the rudder pedals, the tail should NOT fall off! Ummmm, can we say DESIGN FLAW? |
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