In The News Today...

[Kes]

Tragic Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 crash.

I've been asked by a couple of people what could have gone wrong. Too early to say, but I can say what probably didn't. Whatever happened, happened so quickly that there wasn't a mayday sent out, and the aircraft descended 10,000 feet in less than 60 seconds, that's VERY quickly. So, unlikly it was anything to do with the engines, or anything that would have enabled ditching into the ocean.

First thoughts are that it could well have been the result of a deliberate act, or a catastrophic failure in one of the tailplane flying control systems.

[midnight sky]

Tragic Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737 crash.

I've been asked by a couple of people what could have gone wrong. Too early to say, but I can say what probably didn't. Whatever happened, happened so quickly that there wasn't a mayday sent out, and the aircraft descended 10,000 feet in less than 60 seconds, that's VERY quickly. So, unlikly it was anything to do with the engines, or anything that would have enabled ditching into the ocean.

First thoughts are that it could well have been the result of a deliberate act.

I was just reading a out it before I logged in here. How tragic and how scary.
I have literally nightmares about planes crashing into the ocean.

[Kes]

As I said, a bit early to say, but it seems the aircraft was relatively intact before impact, that creates a few anomalies to think about in itself. A plane's best friends and sometimes it's worst enemies are altitude, and speed.

It appears they've found the CVR & FDR (flight recorders), so they'll have a much better idea as soon as those have been analysed.

Edit: They haven't found anything of the main section yet,, just the bit where the flight recorder locator beacons were. It all depends what the overall wreckage spread is, what the next answer could be.

2nd update: They've located the approximate location of the recorders, but haven't recovered them yet. They're saying that looking at the wreckage spread, they believe the aircraft was relatively intact at the point of impact with the sea.

[Kes]

For all those conspiracy theorists, and anti-vaxxers, i live in a currently high Covid area of the UK.

If you had to visit a hospital round here, you can't help but notice the lines of refridgerated trucks parked up. This isn't the M2 near Dover and Brexit traffic jams. These are not there for the benefit of frozen food for the patients, but because they can't carry out funerals for the dead, quick enough.

A chilling reminder that sometimes, the truth is scarier than the conspiracy theories.

I think this is referring to Headley Court, an ex RAF hospital four miles down the road from me.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-55613575

Covid is threat enough, that I don't really want to be playing Russian Roullette with it. You can't gaurantee you won't get it, but if you're both lucky, AND careful, you can probably reduce your exposure to it.

[MyHumanZoo]

Tragic Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 crash.

First thoughts are that it could well have been the result of a deliberate act, or a catastrophic failure in one of the tailplane flying control systems.

What a tragedy! It will be interesting to find out what could have happened. I watch a YouTube channel called TheFlightChannel that goes through actual plane crashes and recreates what happened using the investigations and findings, and I’d say you are probably right in one of your guesses above. It seems to me that many times that type of accident happens due to systems that fail or warnings that override the normal functions. Either way it is such an awful thing to happen.

[Kes]

Something allowed that aircraft to go into an unnatural dive. Whether it was a very severe failure in the rudder, elevator or tailplane incidence. (THS) control system, or a deliberate act by the person at the stick, i really don't know yet.

Pre new gen 737's (ie -500 and lower) do have a history of doing catastrophic Dutch rolls by a failure of the yaw damper system, also called an uncommanded fullscale rudder event, but not normally within a few minutes of getting airborne, as I think they involve a shuttle valve freezing up, and sticking, and have resulted in complete hull losses half a dozen or so times. I know, often enough. A Concorde only crashed once, and that grounded all of them.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_ ... der_issues

Basically, the aircraft slow rolls onto it's back, and goes into terrain/water almost vertically. A quick thinking pilot can isolate the hydraulics to the rudder system, and try to regain control, but really he has to figure out what's happening very quickly.

[Kes]

Apparently, the device they use to pick up the pings from the locator beacons on the two aircraft recorders, stopped working, so they've had to ship another from Singapore.

Although I know where these things are on a servicable up together aircraft, this plane has undergone a rather violent impact, bits of it all over the ocean floor, and is in about 70m of dirty seawater.

If they can find what's left of the rear cargo hold, and rear galley, they'll be getting fairly close.

[Leigh Burne]

They found the flight data recorder yesterday, or so the news said.

No word on the cockpit voice recorder yet.

[Kes]

Both recorders will be fitted with Dukane underwater locator beacons, they basically use the contact seawater as the electrolyte in the battery, trying to think back to my time on 737's, I seem to remember one on the ceiling between the aft toilets, and another on the sidewall of the rear freight bay, but they weren't a long way apart.

They'll be able to work out most of what happened from the FDR, which gets it's info from something called the Flight Data Acquisition Unit, probably in a million bits by now.. That was located by the pilots feet. The CVR will only really tell them who was saying or shouting what, and maybe the notes of the engines in the background.

[Kes]

Other news, they've just found multiple gorillas with Covid in the San Diego zoo, so don't let one play In The Air Tonight on your drum kit.



Apparantly, it the first known cases of Covid in apes.