> ...This is the fourth accident in the last couple years I know of where > prompt pilot response and luck (along with a huge amount of skill, > training, and design) resulted in a zero serious injury accident rather than > a slaughter. The pilot did a wonderful job of landing that plane in water > gently enough <<Big snip>> and it wasn't 5 below > zero outside!The crash in Denver just a while ago was similar - the pilot > managed to land the plane in such a manner as to allow the passengers to get > out before there was a serious fire (helped by the fact that one engine was > torn off and hence there was no fire on that side). > You are right about the location but just about everything else.....
The Denver accident was a rejected takeoff, not a landing accident, caused by a heavy unidentified vibration in the airplane near rotation speed. When the throttles were retarded, the nosewheel lowered, and the brakes applied, the airplane began a slow left turn which the captain could not control. The airplane skidded across the grass, ending up in a deep wide ditch with fire on the right side. Published photos of the path on the runway show long double left gear curving black skidmarks from the centerline to the grass. Seemed to me that the anti-skid system would have prevented that. As of now, the NTSB has not released even a preliminary report so everything is speculation. My friend CS, a recently retired NWA 747 Captain tells me that they have had situations where unequal inflation of the nose gear tires has cause a shimmy. Anyone with any light plane experience has also experienced nose wheel shimmy, in that case the cause being an underinflated nose strut or a broken link. Either of which would be spotted during the pre-flight inspection. > > ....The other two were a power loss failure of some sort at Heathrow last year, where the plane ended up smashed at the end of the runway, but the pilot powered down and shut off the working engine so there was no fire at all -- most of the passengers just walked away.... The Heathrow accident (777 or 767) was an undershoot with the touchdown on the grass, on the centerline, but taking out the approach lights and resulting in what they call a "hull loss." As the airplane descended to the point where a little power was required, the engines failed to respond resulting in an early touchdown. Theories have included an electronic failure but the favorite so far is (believe it or not) fuel gelling. The flight had originated somewhere in China, a very long flight, and the outside temperature at cruise altitude was much lower than normal which (they theorize) lowered the tank temps enough to slow flow down (after a long low power descent) enough to cause the problem. I don't think a preliminary report has been issued. Not thought to be pilot error at this point. RLE > > ************** A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1215855013x1201028747/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072%26hmpgID=62%26bcd=De cemailfooterNO62) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20090117/2c7aba4c/attachment.html> _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
