Rip Testes posted:

One passenger states the pilot entered the cabin and stated his control gauges 'blanked out' and that he lost his ability to fly the plane in that moment.

Phanatic posted:

No way that happened.

Phanatic posted:

No way that happened.

BonoMan posted:

Also would the controls just blipping out momentarily cause a sudden dive? Seems like the plane would just momentarily glide. IANAP tho

stealie72 posted:

Short of something that disrupts the flow of air over the wings, like, say, turbulence, is there anything a pilot actually CAN do to make a plane violently drop like that?

I ask this as someone whose qualifications include a humanities degree and barely passing HS math, so if that's an extremely stupid question, please forgive me.

stealie72 posted:

Short of something that disrupts the flow of air over the wings, like, say, turbulence, is there anything a pilot actually CAN do to make a plane violently drop like that?

ranbo das posted:

The pilot just accidently hit the "drop 10 feet vertically" button on the yoke by accident and doesn't want to fess up.

Sagebrush posted:

The pilot can intentionally induce a stall, and that feels like a sudden drop.

quote:

A former Boeing employee known for raising concerns about the firm's production standards has been found dead in the US.
John Barnett had worked for Boeing for 32 years, until his retirement in 2017.
In the days before his death, he had been giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company.
Boeing said it was saddened to hear of Mr Barnett's passing. The Charleston County coroner confirmed his death to the BBC on Monday.
It said the 62-year-old had died from a "self-inflicted" wound on 9 March and police were investigating.

Best Friends posted:

Possibly very stupid question but how is it possible that fuel is coming out of the landing gear?

Best Friends posted:

Possibly very stupid question but how is it possible that fuel is coming out of the landing gear?

Safety Dance posted:

It's hydraulic fluid.
https://avherald.com/h?article=516053ed&opt=0

For God's sake do a modicum of fact checking before posting a link to a clickbait tweet.

`Nemesis posted:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68534703

i love the air quotes around "self-inflicted"

quote:

At the time of his death, Mr Barnett had been in Charleston for legal interviews linked to that case.

Last week, he gave a formal deposition in which he was questioned by Boeing's lawyers, before being cross-examined by his own counsel.

He had been due to undergo further questioning on Saturday. When he did not appear, enquiries were made at his hotel.

He was subsequently found dead in his truck in the hotel car park.

Speaking to the BBC, his lawyer described his death as "tragic".

Cojawfee posted:

How long until a Boeing plane crashes because the pilot accidentally restarted for Windows updates and it gets stuck at 45%?

Luneshot posted:

now I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but uhhhhhh

https://special.seattletimes.com/o/news/local/737/part02/index.html posted:

The investigators gathered on the morning of March 21, 1991, at United's San Francisco base to discuss taking the dismantled servo valve to Parker Bertea's plant in Irvine for further testing. That was because United didn't have the equipment to extensively test the servo's slides.

Walz, of Parker Bertea, was assigned to hand-carry the servo valve to Irvine. John Calvin, the quality-control engineer from Boeing, instructed an assistant to pack up the parts. According to court records, the assistant left the room and returned with a taped package, which he handed to Walz, who carried it on a flight to Southern California.

When Walz opened the package that afternoon at the Parker Bertea plant, he discovered that three servo-valve parts were missing: a spring, spring guide and end cap.

Boeing, citing ongoing litigation, has never explained why those three parts were left out of the package forwarded to Irvine.

Together, the three missing parts play a crucial role in the delicate sequence of channeling just the right amount of pressurized hydraulic fluid, at just the right moment, to move the rudder in the direction and to the degree the pilot or the automatic yaw damper has commanded. When precisely positioned inside the servo-valve housing, the spring, spring guide and end cap serve as an internal stop, preventing the outer slide from moving too far within the housing.

It would be another 18 months before investigators would discover that too much movement of the outer slide could be dangerous.

As far as Phillips knew at the time, the three parts which John Calvin's helper failed to pack in San Francisco were inconsequential. Phillips concurred with a group decision to proceed with testing of the servo using a new spring, spring guide and end cap taken from Parker Bertea's stockroom.

Safety Dance posted:

It's hydraulic fluid.
https://avherald.com/h?article=516053ed&opt=0

For God's sake do a modicum of fact checking before posting a link to a clickbait tweet.

hobbesmaster posted:

Aeronautical Insanity: switching to secondary tol-*BANG* *BANG*

Warbird posted:

Absolutely not, . Though I had presumed the publication had done some sort of due diligence.

Safety Dance posted:

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to attack you directly. I feel like there's been a spate of breathless reporting about non-events because those planes happen to be Boeings.

hobbesmaster posted:

Aeronautical Insanity: switching to secondary tol-*BANG* *BANG*

`Nemesis posted:

Safety Dance posted:

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to attack you directly. I feel like there's been a spate of breathless reporting about non-events because those planes happen to be Boeings.

Cojawfee posted:

How long until a Boeing plane crashes because the pilot accidentally restarted for Windows updates and it gets stuck at 45%?