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Author Topic: Malaysian Flight 370  (Read 391326 times)

Jeff Victor Hayden

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #180 on: April 07, 2014, 09:46:43 PM »

"But even recorded silence is a clue"

That's for sure, people may be silent but the airplane makes noises, engines, bleeps, warnings, rattles, alarms etc...
A number of air crash investigations have been solved by a combination of flight data recorder information matched to sounds, not voices in the cockpit.
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Jeff Victor Hayden

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #181 on: April 07, 2014, 09:59:32 PM »

On the subject of voice data recorders. You would have thought that in this digital age they would record the voice data for the whole flight digitally onto a memory card instead of a mere two hours using tape.
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Jeff Victor Hayden

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #182 on: April 08, 2014, 12:37:23 AM »

Latest search area narrowed down...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26923235


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Kevin Weeks

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #183 on: April 08, 2014, 06:52:55 AM »

Maybe at some point after flying over Malaysia they avoided land, not radar.

Why would you do that? 
Wouldn't a water landing in a land plane be worse than any kind of landing on land except in the middle of a city (ala the Hudson ditching)..
Smoke limiting a clear view. And it was dark outside. Less likely to plow into something vertical that you can't see if ditching in the water

smoke limiting view would be a reason to get down to lower altitude. if I am not mistaken the 777 has cockpit windows that you can open for this purpose. being night time may have been a problem. if they had no navigation tools functioning would they have flown on in a straight line with the hope of finding land before fuel ran out?? does a 777 have a mechanical compass in it??
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John Ousterhout

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #184 on: April 08, 2014, 09:42:47 AM »

Does the 777 have a "glass cockpit"?  What instruments are left that wouldn't require electricity?  Does the emergency lighting system have an independent power source?  The mental image of an unlit cockpit without working displays is pretty scary.  What can be done with a flashlight if the digital displays are all blank?  Compass, turn and bank, what else would still be helpful?
If the aircraft flew straight and level, doesn't that imply the autopilot was functioning?  Don't the engines also require electrical power?  If so, then part of the electrical system was working.
Cheers,
JohnO
 
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C.W. Herndon

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #185 on: April 08, 2014, 12:22:39 PM »

smoke limiting view would be a reason to get down to lower altitude. if I am not mistaken the 777 has cockpit windows that you can open for this purpose. being night time may have been a problem. if they had no navigation tools functioning would they have flown on in a straight line with the hope of finding land before fuel ran out?? does a 777 have a mechanical compass in it??

Yes Kevin, the 777 has a mechanical (magnetic) compass mounted at the top center of the windshield, as in most aircraft, and shown in the picture below from official Boeing video of the 777 cockpit found here.
Woody (former 3316R)
"the watcher"
 
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C.W. Herndon

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #186 on: April 08, 2014, 12:43:54 PM »

Does the 777 have a "glass cockpit"? 

If the aircraft flew straight and level, doesn't that imply the autopilot was functioning?  Don't the engines also require electrical power?  If so, then part of the electrical system was working.

Yes John, the 777 has a glass cockpit as shown in this video from Boeing.

The aircraft also has a fly-by-wire control system which makes it HIGHLY unlikely, and probably impossible, that it could be flown if all electrical power were out.
Woody (former 3316R)
"the watcher"
 
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Kevin Weeks

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #187 on: April 08, 2014, 02:11:36 PM »

Does the 777 have a "glass cockpit"? 

If the aircraft flew straight and level, doesn't that imply the autopilot was functioning?  Don't the engines also require electrical power?  If so, then part of the electrical system was working.

Yes John, the 777 has a glass cockpit as shown in this video from Boeing.

The aircraft also has a fly-by-wire control system which makes it HIGHLY unlikely, and probably impossible, that it could be flown if all electrical power were out.

found an interesting description of the 777's fly by wire system here http://bits.me.berkeley.edu/me39c/Spring97/Projects/b777/flightdeck2.html

excerpt:

In designing the fly-by-wire system Boeing built in so many safeguards and backups that it almost appeared that they were unsure of their design. For example, there are effectively nine computers that could run the fly-by-wire system alone. In addition, there is a battery backup on top of a primary backup to run the system should the power to the system be interrupted. Engineers also left some of the original cable system intact as another backup system. In other words, Boeing has attempted to counter Murphy's Law such that if anything can go wrong there is a backup!
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #188 on: April 08, 2014, 02:14:25 PM »

In other words, Boeing has attempted to counter Murphy's Law such that if anything can go wrong there is a backup!

Anything, that is, except the pilot.
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Kevin Weeks

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #189 on: April 08, 2014, 02:22:09 PM »

In other words, Boeing has attempted to counter Murphy's Law such that if anything can go wrong there is a backup!

Anything, that is, except the pilot.

I don't doubt that the next thing to come will be a complete cockpit control lockout. with the fly by wire controls they could do it and land the plane remotely ... scarey but true....
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #190 on: April 08, 2014, 02:25:11 PM »

The next thing to come will be to replace the copilot with a Rottweiler.  The dog's job will be to bite the pilot if he touches anything.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2014, 02:34:07 PM by Ric Gillespie »
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don hirth

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #191 on: April 08, 2014, 06:46:46 PM »

Ric, You could do 'standup'!! Who writes your material?
dlh
 
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #192 on: April 08, 2014, 07:24:18 PM »

Ric, You could do 'standup'!! Who writes your material?

Like most comedians, I steal it.
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Jeff Victor Hayden

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #193 on: April 08, 2014, 11:45:18 PM »

Missing Malaysia plane: Search 'regains recorder signal'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26950387

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JNev

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Re: Malaysian Flight 370
« Reply #194 on: April 09, 2014, 06:05:10 AM »

Missing Malaysia plane: Search 'regains recorder signal'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26950387

Getting warmer, good to see.  Thanks Jeff Victor.
- Jeff Neville

Former Member 3074R
 
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