Archive for category METEO

On what may have caused AF flight 447 crash

May 29

Posted by Recce 233 Savoie in A330, Accidents, American, Brazil, Cabin crew, Cockpit, Flight SAFETY, France, Icing, Instrumentation, LISTEN, Misc., Passengers, Pilots, PLS 3 / SLP 3, READ, Sensors, SPEED | No Comments

As the Flight Data Recorder (FDR); the CSMU (Crash Survival Memory Cockpit); and the CVR – Cockpit Voice Recorder – have been recovered from the shell of the Air France Airbus A330-203 registered F-GZCP, we may learn more about the crash that happened to the flight AF 447 in the Atlantic Ocean between Rio de Janeiro Galeão and Paris Charles de Gaulle on May 31, 2009.

According to the French BEA – air accident investigations bureau – report, the aircraft was plunging at a speed of 10,912 feet per minute; a ground speed of 107 knots; with a pitch attitude of 16.2° nose-up; a roll angle of 5.3° left; and a magnetic heading of 270° when the recordings stopped.

It has been deemed by aviation pundits that the pitot tubes might have failed due to icing at FL 380. However, no piece of evidence but the weird speed indications has demonstrated that these probes were actually icing. Moreover, there is no pitot tube mentioned in this report. This tragic accident killed all the people – cabin crew members; passengers; and pilots – on board. There were 228 of them. May they rest in peace.

Tags: A330, A330-203, AERONAUTICS, AF 447, Air France, Airbus, AIRCRAFT, Aircrash, American, ASI, Atlantic, Attitude, Aviation, BEA, BRAZIL, Brazilian, Cabin crew, Charles de Gaulle, Cockpit, Crash, Crashes, CSMU, CVR, Death toll, F-GZCP, Failure, FCL 1.200, FDR, FL380, Flight Data Recorder, Flight level, Flight SAFETY, FRANCE, French, Galeao, Icing, Indications, Instrumentation, Investigation, LISTEN, NEWS, Ocean, Passengers, Pilots, Pitch, Plane crash, PLS 3333, READ, Report, Rio de Janeiro, Sea, Sensors, Speed, Stall, Video, VSI

Volcanic ash posing a threat to flight safety

May 22

Posted by Recce 233 Savoie in Ash, ENGINES, France, Iceland, LISTEN, Misc., PLS 2 / SLP 2, READ, Scotland, Spain, UK, Volcano, Weather | No Comments

Sunday 5/22/2011 – Breaking news:

The Grimsvötn volcano began erupting yesterday. It is located underneath the uninhabited Vatnajokull glacier in southeastern Iceland. As it has been sending ash into the skies up to flight level 650 i.e. 65,000 ft or around 20 kilometers or 12 miles.

The European fleets might be grounded due to the spreading of an ash cloud which is forecast to drift over Scotland on Tuesday – May 24, 2011 – and expected to reach France and Spain by Thursday or Friday. Here is an interesting short documentary about how the scientists examine the volcanic ash, and how they determine that it can pose a threat to aircraft.

Watch the video:

Volcanic Ash – When is it a Threat to Airflight? par NewsLook

Tags: AIRCRAFT, Airports, Ash, Brandenburg, Ceramic, Cloud, Coating, Collection, Concentration, Cottbus, Dresden, Eruption, Eurocontrol, EUROPE, Evaluation, Eyjafjallajökull, Eyjafjöll, FCL 1.028, FCL 1.200, FL 650, Flight SAFETY, FRANCE, Great Britain, Grimsvötn, Grounded, High temperature, ICAO LEVELS - Niveaux OACI, Iceland, Imagery, Jet engine, Layer, LISTEN, Melt, Model, Molten, Natural disaster, NEWS, Particles, PLS 2222, Plume, Protective, READ, Research, Sample, Satellite, Scientists, Scotland, Skies, Smoke, Spain, Steam, Temperature, Turbine, UK, University, Values, Video, Volcanic, Volcano

Solid-as-a-rock A380 aircraft struck… by lightning!

May 22

Posted by Recce 233 Savoie in A380, Cockpit, England, Fuselage, Lightning, Passengers, Pilots, PLS 2 / SLP 2, READ, Storm | No Comments

It is not uncommon for aircraft to be struck by lightning but this super heavy Emirates Airbus A380 got hit by a jagged bolt of lightning right over the pilot’s seats.

A huge amount of electric energy must have passed through the airframe of the aircraft during its approach at London Heathrow last week. Amazingly the commercial aircraft escaped damage, and nobody was hurt.

Is it any wonder this airplane may sustain such a stress in a clap of thunder? The size and the nature of the A380 airframe seems to be the right solution to such hazards. Thanks to its thick metal structure, the plane behaved as a perfect Faraday cage:

Tags: A380, Airbus, AIRCRAFT, AIRCREW, AIRFRAME, Amazing, Approach, Bolt, Cockpit, Commercial, Electrical storm, Electricity, Emirates, England, Faraday cage, FCL 1.028, FCL 1.200, Flight SAFETY, Fuselage, Hazard, Heathrow, Hit, ICAO LEVELS - Niveaux OACI, Images, Lightning, Lightning storm, London, Meteorology, Natural disaster, NEWS, Passengers, PLS 2222, READ, Science & Technology, Spectacular, Struck, Super heavy, T-storm, Thunder, Thundershower, Thunderstorm, UK, Unscathed, Video, Weather

Cold weather DC3 cargo aircraft flights to Antarctica

May 20

Posted by Recce 233 Savoie in American, ANTARCTIC, Cold, DC-3, Icing, Land., LISTEN, PLS 3 / SLP 3, Snow | No Comments

The Canadian Kenn Borek Ltd. DC-3 you can see below has been modified to perform landing on ice strips with skis. This aircraft, as well as another DC-3T – a Basler BT-67 – carry out Antartica Logistics and Expeditions (ALE) flights. Therefore they have been upgraded to sustain take off, flight, and landing at very low temperatures. Please, listen to Philippe Cousteau:

Tags: 4K, AIRCRAFT, Airline, Ale, Antarctic, Antarctica, Basler, Borek Air, BT-67, C-GVKB, Canadian, CARGO, Cold, Cousteau, Dakota, DC-3, DC-3T, DC3, DC3T, Douglas, Expeditions, Flight, Ice, Ice strip, KBA, Kenn Borek Air, Landing, Landing gear, LISTEN, Logistics, Meteorology, MLG, PLS 3333, Ski, Skis, Snow, Take off, Takeoff, Video, Visibility, Weather

Air Force SERE – Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape

Mar 29

Posted by Recce 233 Savoie in American, B2, Cold, CSAR, J7 Training, LISTEN, Misc., PLS 3 / SLP 3, SERE, Snow, USA, USAF, Water | No Comments

SERE stands for Survival-Evasion-Resistance-Escape for the US Air Force, and Survive-Evade-Resist-Extract for the Royal Air Force. Watch the video shot at the USAF Survival School, Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA), Fairchild AFB, Washington:

Tags: Acronyms, AFB, Agency, AIR FORCES, Airmen, American, Cold, CSAR, Escape, Evade, Evasion, Extract, Fairchild, Joint, JPRA, Learning, LISTEN, NEWS, Personnel, PLS 3333, Potable, RAF, Recovery, Resist, Resistance, School, SERE, Shelter, Snow, Spokane, Students, Survival, Training, Unexpected, USA, USAF, Video, Washington, Water

Enigma of Yuri Gagarin’s death on March 27 – 43 years ago

Mar 27

Posted by Recce 233 Savoie in Aviation, B-29, B1, Clouds, Flight SAFETY, FOD, HISTORY, MiG-15, Misc., Pilots, PLS 2 / SLP 2, READ, RUSSIA, Russian AF, SPACE, Su-9 / Su-11 | No Comments

The cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – the 1st man to have travelled into outer space on his Vostok 1 spacecraft on April 12, 1961 – died on March 27 1968. However, the precise cause of the jet crash remains uncertain.

Colonel Gagarin and his instructor Vladimir Seryogin (as Gagarin, director of the Star City, had to obtain his fighter pilot rating again), flew a MiG-15 Midget that day, and they should not have kept the fuel tanks under their jet. As the spin turned into a deadly crash, it has been suggested since 1986 that the afterburner turbulence of a Sukhoi Su-11 Fishpot-C interceptor aircraft could have caused the MiG-15 to go out of control.

The MiG-15 had first been designed to intercept USAF nuclear-capable B-29s.

Some governmental documents were declassified in 2003. They revealed that in addition to the official investigations, the KGB tried to advance a new line of inquiry. Since then, it has been deemed that the accident could not be due to any conspiracy theory. Though little is certain about this mistery, you can click on the frame below to read further information:

What killed Yury Gagarin: Soviet report’s findings

09:30 27/03/2011 On March 27, 1968, news of a terrible tragedy broke: Yury Gagarin, first man into space, had been killed in a plane crash. Although experts continue to debate what caused the crash, they all agree that Gagarin’s death was quite bizarre.>>

Other news of the day

Tags: 1st generation fighters, 2nd generation fighters, 625, Aerospace, AIRCRAFT, Aviation, B-29, Balloon, Bird strike, Bizarre, Call sign, Chkalovsky, Clouds, Collision, Conditions, Crash, Deadly, Death, Fagot, FIGHTER aircraft, Fishpot, Flight SAFETY, Flock of birds, Fuel tanks, Gurevich, Hero, HISTORY, Inquiry, Instructor, INTERCEPTORS, Investigation, KGB, Killed, Kirzhach, Loops, Meteorology, Midget, MiG-15, MiG-15UTI, MiG15, Mikoyan, Military, Mistery, NEWS, Nosedive, Novosyolovo, Pilots, PLS 2222, Poor, READ, Recce 233 Savoie, RUSSIA, Russian, Russian AF, Sounding balloon, Soviet, SPACE, Specifications, Spin, Star City, Strange, Su-11, Su11, Sukhoi, Superfortress, Tailspin, Training flight, Turbulence, Type 29, Visibility, Vladimir Seryogin, Wake, Weather, Weather balloon, Yuri Gagarin, Ю́рий Гага́рин

Prepa PLS Anglais

AERONAUTICS and DEFENSE for English learners