Originally posted by Evan
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when he arrived in the cockpit, they still had the time.
So let's assume you are not PF, you are not even in the cockpit, like Dubois. 238 seconds then are not enough for you.
They had the time. Yes, in my eyes the PF always has 238 seconds to rescue his aircraft. Imho that was the case before AF #447 impacted on the Atlantic Ocean, with a speed of.. cruise speed at 350 plus x.. as far as I remember, the French BEA stated that the AF A332 impacted almost flat on the Ocean, i.e. not with a nose dive, but with the full length of an A332,
a belly landing with let's say 500 knots ground speed. Nobody and nothing survives something like that if not somebody releases the yoke so that the jet almost automatically flies out of the stall, a proper altitude assumed. The right seat F/O must have died on impact, still ripping the yoke.
At least one question remains. I don't have an idea how to distribute 'You have control' in an Airbus 330. I assume that in a Boeing 747 -100, -400 or -800 or all other versions, both yokes move if not the matter who pulls one of them. So, in a 747, the left seat F/O always sees the move when somebody else like a temporarily shocked right seat F/O pulls his yoke far beyond a good airspeed.
Pulling the yoke is one of the best airbrakes which I know. And that is true for each and every aircraft which I know. Grumman Goose, Cessna 152, Cessna 172, Cessna Citation, Beech Baron 58, Beech King Air 350, Airbus A320, Airbus A321, Airbus A330, B757, B763ER 764ER, 744ER, 748 passage, 748 freighter, et cetera et cetera et cetera.
So how could he pull until he died. He was unaware of the situation, he did not see the Ocean coming although he pulled like an insane person. Missing situational awareness, in darkness above the Atlantic Ocean. He probably was not able to see the Ocean coming in the darkness,
but hell damn that was not his first flight as a PF in the right seat of an Airbus 330-200 in darkness (?!).
In Germany, afaik you need an IFR license to start the engine of whatever aircraft without sunlight. That includes precise knowledge of all instruments in an Airbus 330 or Beech Baron 58 to avoid a belly landing on the Atlantic Ocean: PFD, v/s indicator and alt indicator. What would you try if you have an old school altitude indicator clock in your aircraft which is spinning like a toy spinner (Spielzeugkreisel) during a descent. You try to end with a normal landing, with a flare. But only with more than stall speed.
Stall recovery or emergency descent is possible, afaik, not only in the movie 'U.S. Marshals' (1998_). 'I have her at 10,000 !'
Didn't AF #447 end quite flat on the Ocean or even with 2 or 3 degrees nose up?! Thus he never was able to regain more than stall speed.
One of the saddest stories since I am here in this forum, AF #447. Because highly avoidable.
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