Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Autopilot not Yaw Damper??

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Autopilot not Yaw Damper??

    It still goes back to training and common sense.





    ANN ARBOR, Mich. – A co-pilot may have accidentally activated the autopilot on a medical plane shortly before it crashed and killed both pilots and a four-member organ transplant team, according to a federal safety agency's report.
    The report on a simulation of the flight's final minutes came from a National Transportation Safety Board team, the Detroit Free Press reported Sunday.
    The results of the simulation "are consistent with the co-pilot inadvertently hitting the autopilot button" instead of another motion control device, the report said. It said the co-pilot apparently intended to activate the yaw damper, which helps reduce side-to-side oscillations of an aircraft.
    If the autopilot is engaged, it would have resisted efforts to maneuver the Cessna Citation II.
    The report is from the NTSB's Recorded Radar and Airplane Performance Study Group. Other NTSB teams are looking into the operations of the plane's owner, weather, the plane's air worthiness, maintenance records and cockpit voice recordings. The five-member board won't issue its conclusion on the probable cause of the crash until after it receives all of their reports later this year.
    Flight transcripts show that First Officer Dennis Hoyes told Capt. Bill Serra that he had activated the aircraft's yaw damper. About 11 seconds later, Serra says: "Why am I fighting the controls here?"
    Capt. Steve Jones, head of operations at Western Michigan University's College of Aviation, told the Free Press that the two buttons are next to each other on the center console and that many aircraft makers have redesigned consoles to avoid such confusion.
    The University of Michigan Survival Flight plane crashed just after takeoff from Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport on June 4, 2007. The Michigan patient who was awaiting a double-lung transplant operation received a second set of donor lungs two days later.

  • #2
    Wouldn't the autopilot disengage when the pilot pulled on the yoke?

    Comment


    • #3
      Appearly the pilot didn't use checklist yaw damper off and on when procedure take off, climb and landing. After take off it should be turn yaw damper off.

      Stuart

      Comment


      • #4
        I don't know about the Citation II but in the original Slo-tation, the autopilot would disconnect when the force on the control wheel >25 pounds.

        The autopilot had three positions: OFF, YawDamp & ON.

        The yaw dampener can be operated independent of the autopilot.
        Don
        Standard practice for managers around the world:
        Ready - Fire - Aim! DAMN! Missed again!

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Big777jet View Post
          After take off it should be turn yaw damper off.

          Stuart
          Really?

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Big777jet View Post
            Appearly the pilot didn't use checklist yaw damper off and on when procedure take off, climb and landing. After take off it should be turn yaw damper off.
            Stuart
            I respectfully disagree, but I also think you're kidding.

            Comment


            • #7


              read the explaination a while ago.

              I don't know what is caused crash. Ask someone else who is more expert.


              Stuart

              Comment


              • #8
                I read last year other forum that someone mentioned it was wrong. It should not be on yaw damper when take off and landing. I found right now the subject yaw damper. It says should be off when take off and landing. Maybe he forgot to turn on yaw damper when climbing. I don't know what is causing. Maybe yaw is broken stuck and cause plane lost control. I'm not sure how it works.


                Stuart

                Comment


                • #9
                  In every Citation that I flew, the yaw damper was off for takeoff and landing. It would normally be engaged after takeoff. In the straight wing Citation it wasn't required, but was used for passenger comfort more than anything else.

                  The current official explanation of the CP engaging the autopilot instead of the yaw damper makes sense. What's not explained is why the pilot flying didn't disconnect everything as soon as there was a control problem.

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X