Airbus Passengers Suing Over Terrifying Plunge

[Horatio]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.18275bfac3f5852a630f1aaf6fa6b687.2e1&show_article=1

The part that really stood out for me was this:


Many passengers travelling that day were so traumatised by the incident they are no longer able to fly, he added.
He said he believed the captain of the flight, a former "top gun pilot from the US Navy", had not flown since.
"He has told me that when the plane went out of control, the computer would not give him back control of the plane and he said it was in a dive," Wisner told ABC Radio. "All he could see was the ocean. He has never been as frightened as he was at that point despite all his prior military aircraft training."

[UALdave]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

The part that really stood out for me was this:


Many passengers travelling that day were so traumatised by the incident they are no longer able to fly, he added.
He said he believed the captain of the flight, a former "top gun pilot from the US Navy", had not flown since.
"He has told me that when the plane went out of control, the computer would not give him back control of the plane and he said it was in a dive," Wisner told ABC Radio. "All he could see was the ocean. He has never been as frightened as he was at that point despite all his prior military aircraft training."

YIKES!! Well, I'm glad that no one was killed! Thanks for the link to that article; we NEVER get news like this, here in the USA.

I don't know how culpable Airbus is, but I have heard from one fight engineer and one first-officer (who flies for Republic) that their aircraft are over-automated, to the point where things like this happen, despite the best efforts of pilots to regain control.

[FLL550]

I'm sorry, but if anyone has read the novel "airframe" by Micheal Crichton, it was written in 1996 but the plot is almost the exact same incident

[PMN]

"People flew up to the ceiling, hit their head on the (luggage) bins, and then remained up on the ceiling for what to them seemed like an unusual amount of time only to come crashing down on top of other people,"

What to them seemed an unusual amount of time? I wonder what they consider to be a usual amount of time to be up on the ceiling of a plane.

Hearing of cases like this really annoys the hell out of me. In the (roughly) 260 flights I've done I can't remember not hearing a very clear recommendation to keep your seat belt fastened when seated even if the seat belt sign is off. The aircraft certainly shouldn't lose altitude like that but still, it's recommended you keep your seat belt fastened at all times because occasionally shit happens, and those seeking compensation will no doubt blame the aircraft for their (probably) avoidable injuries rather than blame their own ignorance. I know that sounds a little harsh but I'm sick and tired of hearing of people wanting compensation for something they themselves could have avoided.

That said, it will be interesting to discover the cause of it.

[UALdave]

"People flew up to the ceiling, hit their head on the (luggage) bins, and then remained up on the ceiling for what to them seemed like an unusual amount of time only to come crashing down on top of other people,"

What to them seemed an unusual amount of time? I wonder what they consider to be a usual amount of time to be up on the ceiling of a plane.

Hearing of cases like this really annoys the hell out of me. In the (roughly) 260 flights I've done I can't remember not hearing a very clear recommendation to keep your seat belt fastened when seated even if the seat belt sign is off. The aircraft certainly shouldn't lose altitude like that but still, it's recommended you keep your seat belt fastened at all times because occasionally shit happens, and those seeking compensation will no doubt blame the aircraft for their (probably) avoidable injuries rather than blame their own ignorance. I know that sounds a little harsh but I'm sick and tired of hearing of people wanting compensation for something they themselves could have avoided.

That said, it will be interesting to discover the cause of it.

Agreed on keeping your seat belt fastened whenever you're in your seat. But there has to be more to this lawsuit then that usually stupidity, because there were no suits filed against UAL after their turbulent flight.

[MCM]

Some of you may not have heard or read the full story behind this incident, however this is not a "plane hits turbulence people get injured" event.

This was an extremely serious system malfunction that almost resulted in the loss of an A330 - it really was more a case of luck than good management that it did not.

There was (is) a major flaw in the "triple redundancy" logic that allowed a single malfunctioning ADIRU to result in a full control pitch down, and the passengers hitting the roof. Full nose up control input by the pilots still resulted in a steep nose down attitude. It was only that the problem self corrected that they regained control - and only that they were at high altitude that it didn't result in terrain contact.

It happened twice - once in cruise, and once enroute to their diversion airport.

Whether or not they should be suing - I don't know. But please don't put this in the category of "turbulence" - this was something far more sinister.

[mawheatley]

Whether or not they should be suing - I don't know. But please don't put this in the category of "turbulence" - this was something far more sinister.

And if I'm not mistaken, a DL/NW A330 suffered a similar incident, and some believe this is also what took down AF447, although this has never been proven.

[transitfan]

I'm sorry, but if anyone has read the novel "airframe" by Micheal Crichton, it was written in 1996 but the plot is almost the exact same incident

Great book. Wonder what a "Norton N-22" would look like.

[pothole]

For a long flight (London to Vancouver) I randomly grabbed a novel and a newspaper while boarding. The novel happened to be Airframe. I read part of it, and it made me feel uncomfortable about flying, so I switched to the newspaper. The lead story was the (then recent) Alaska Airlines crash off Point Mugu in January 2000. About an hour later we hit a severe (to me) "air pocket". My stomach flew to the roof of the cabin (fortunately I always wear my seatbelt).

I didn't fly for two years after that.

Fortunately I got over my fear of flying. One way was by reading a lot of this website.

pothole

[Deadstick]

Some of you may not have heard or read the full story behind this incident, however this is not a "plane hits turbulence people get injured" event.

This was an extremely serious system malfunction that almost resulted in the loss of an A330 - it really was more a case of luck than good management that it did not.

There was (is) a major flaw in the "triple redundancy" logic that allowed a single malfunctioning ADIRU to result in a full control pitch down, and the passengers hitting the roof. Full nose up control input by the pilots still resulted in a steep nose down attitude. It was only that the problem self corrected that they regained control - and only that they were at high altitude that it didn't result in terrain contact.

It happened twice - once in cruise, and once enroute to their diversion airport.

Whether or not they should be suing - I don't know. But please don't put this in the category of "turbulence" - this was something far more sinister.

Holy SHIT! Why aren't these grounded?

[UALdave]

Holy SHIT! Why aren't these grounded?

Good question; I've never heard of nonsense like this happening with any Boeing long-haul aircraft.

[Rtyrpics]

Shoot the bloody clowns who want compensation. If I claimed compensation for every thing that didnt quiet go my way, I'd have more money in the bank than I dont know what.

Get over it, you didn't die you don't need compensation, especially because if your seat belt was fastened even loosely they wouldn't have bounced round the cabin.

RT

[mzk49o1]

Great book. Wonder what a "Norton N-22" would look like.

Probably similar to an MD-11.

[SYDCBRWOD]

Holy SHIT! Why aren't these grounded?

Probably because there have been techniques implemented to combat any recurrence and new software installed since this incident.

[SYDCBRWOD]

Good question; I've never heard of nonsense like this happening with any Boeing long-haul aircraft.

No that's right. Because Boeing produce perfect aircraft without any faults at all.

Or could it be that prior to the 777 none of boeing's long haul fleet used fly by wire? And even with the 777 there is none of the "Airbus computer knows better than the pilot" malarky.

But the answer to that question will just be filled with the usual crap about Boeing vs Airbus yada yada yada... It could be argued that the Colgan prang of the Q400 - if it had been fitted with an Airbus FBW system that all of those passengers would be alive today, because the aircraft would not have allowed the pilot to stall the airframe....