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  #51  
Old 8th October 2008, 02:20 PM
NickN NickN is offline
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If the nose first tilted upwards as some passengers said (and the news report above), is it possible that the aircraft, because of its high altitude and heavy load, stalled, and then descended rapidly because of the stalling?
Come on Rhys, you really think experienced Qantas pilots are going to let a jetliner stall at cruise altitude?

Next you'll be saying someone shot at it from the grassy noll.

The suggestion it stalled is preposterous.
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  #52  
Old 8th October 2008, 02:33 PM
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If it was a computer failure, though, as has been reported, how much of a say would the pilots have in avoiding a stall?

You can't discount a theory just because it 'sounds' impossible. With that theory, there shouldn't be any aircraft incidents as all 'experienced' pilots should able to handle every situation, even a computer malfunction outside of their control.
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  #53  
Old 8th October 2008, 02:35 PM
Jack B Jack B is offline
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Where is VH-QPA at the moment? I suppose it hasn't left yet
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  #54  
Old 8th October 2008, 03:08 PM
Rhys Xanthis Rhys Xanthis is offline
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Originally Posted by NickN View Post
Come on Rhys, you really think experienced Qantas pilots are going to let a jetliner stall at cruise altitude?
Quite the opposite, and as many here know I would rather fly no other airline than Qantas, and believe their safety standards are very high, and i have no issue at all flying with them, and the pilots i know are very very experienced, so that is not what i am saying at all.

What i am saying is that for one reason or another, the plane gained altitude, then descnded rapidly - this sounds like a stall of some sort to me, and i have absolutely no suspicion that it was the direct fault of the flight crew whatsoever.

The reason for it gaining altitude will provide the key for why this incident happened - unusally high volume of hot air in the area? Flight computer malfunctioned (What caused it?). These are all questions that must be answered.
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  #55  
Old 8th October 2008, 03:21 PM
Paul C. Paul C. is offline
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I flew on VH-QPA from Melbourne to Hong Kong back in August 2005.
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  #56  
Old 8th October 2008, 03:30 PM
NickN NickN is offline
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Nick,

Rhys is saying the incident was created by a stall, not the computer glitch causing the 300 feet climb and then stalling. There has never been any mention of a stall.

A 300 feet climb is a relatively minor altitude change which I doubt would directly result in the engines stalling.

news.com.au has just released an article blaming computer issues for the incident.
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  #57  
Old 8th October 2008, 04:08 PM
Rhys Xanthis Rhys Xanthis is offline
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Thats why its a theory and not proof - to be proven right or wrong nick.

What i did say NickN was that something caused it to gain altitude during cruise, which needs to be determined. This should in turn explain the sudden descent.
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  #58  
Old 8th October 2008, 05:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David Ramsay View Post
I'm not a pilot, but I am an engineer. Logic would suggest that if the aircraft systems told it to change altitude even suddenly, the nose would lower and it would descend, albeit rapidly. It wouldn't just drop. The only thing that is going to make it drop as it apparently did is sudden loss of the lift component, due to absence of air flowing over the leading edge.

Tech crew, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
I agree David any command given, no matter how urgent or rapid would be a smooth transition ( thats if it was a command). In saying that, it does not count out an computer error occuring eg. reverse thrust being engaged. I know it sounds unlikely, as you might need weight on wheels and some other logics to achieve this to operarate, but i have seen computers do weird things.

Until we get the full story and maybe knowing what occured at what time during the flight from a data download it is hard to diagnose the fault.
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  #59  
Old 8th October 2008, 05:43 PM
Nathan Long Nathan Long is offline
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I'm not sure on the loop time on the FDR on the A330, but isn't there a danger in incidents like these that the time taken for the aircraft to land is long enough to overwrite the data from the incident?
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  #60  
Old 8th October 2008, 05:51 PM
Andrew M Andrew M is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nathan Long View Post
I'm not sure on the loop time on the FDR on the A330, but isn't there a danger in incidents like these that the time taken for the aircraft to land is long enough to overwrite the data from the incident?
If the time is long enough yes of course, but I think I read somewhere the plane was on the ground in a very short time after this incident
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