Quote:
Originally Posted by nser uame
Hey Woxof, hope you are well.
Have you ever watched 'The plane that fell from the sky'? It's about Flight TWA 841 (1979) which entered an uncontrolled descent at 39,000 feet but the crew managed to regain control at 5,000 feet and everyone survived.
CBS recreated the scene using the passengers from the flight which is quite comical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmUpBGCymBY
The NTSB concluded that the probable cause was pilot error because the slats had been extended while the aircraft was flying at cruising speed. However, Capt. Gibson denied this suggesting that the actuator on the slat had failed.
Have any thoughts about this incident? Did you ever hear about pilots using the flaps/slats whilst cruising to increase performance of the plane?
I've been meaning to post this for about 9 years but I am a bit of a procrastinator.
I have got married and had 3 children since signing up to post this haha.
First of all, congratulations on getting married and having a family. I can see how other priorities resulted in the delay for your post.
As for TWA 841, I think it was probably pilot induced. In the early years of aviation, there was a lot of folklore about ways to increase airplane performance, usually by reducing drag. One of the methods I used to hear about a lot in my GA days was getting the plane "on the step." This was an analogy to boating where you get the boat to a speed where it is skimming the surface and experiencing less drag. Since air is a fluid, the thinking was that something similar happens with aircraft, though the analogy is imperfect since the airplane doesn't ride
on the air, it travels
through the air. There was no clear concensus on how to achieve flight "on the step" and it seemed to be the province of those with the "right stuff." I haven't really heard the term in decades and I mention it because it's germain to the time of this incident.
I do remember hearing mention of using slats in flight to increase lift with no increase in drag. But in aviation, as in life, there is no free lunch. I'll trust the aerodynamicists and aircraft designers. If they prohibit the use of slats in cruise flight, I think I'll respect that limitation. Perhaps the limitation is due to the higher risk of asymmetric slats at high speeds, which is the situation these pilots found themselves in.
I'm happy to report that I never flew with, or heard about, any pilots at Delta who intentionally operated the plane outside the envelope of how we were trained to fly it. Speed limitations on the extension of slats, flaps, and landing gear are scrupulously observed.