Regardless of the "why" this happened I come back to thinking about people who had perhaps 8 minutes pretty much sure they were going to die.....it is not a pleasant thought.
The recordings show that the passengers only panicked in the last moments.
It wasn't the whole 8 minutes, at least that .... :-(
Well we couldn't hear screams until the last minute--but I'm sure there was plenty of anxiety hearing the pilot banging on the door.
So what does this mean in your opinion?My study of this unusual story
"Perdita contatto radar - quota 2111m" = "Radar contact loss - altitude 2111 meters"
"Linea a quota costante di 2111m" = "Fixed-altitude line (2111 meters)"
they often discussed hypoxia
I am assuming things will be more clear when the data recorder is recovered (and I think it was an error for the French investigator to immediately declare his opinion of deliberate crash), but am I correct that by the time one notices that you are affected by hypoxia, it is already too late?
I've read of pilots' being trained to recognize oxygen deprivation in its early stages.
does this sound pretty accurate?
I think there are other members of the flight crew who know the code. In the badly acted video posted earlier (post 70) in this thread "Sally" the flight attendant (who couldn't pronounce her own name) knew the code. Also reports indicate that the pilot left the flight deck at 9.30 UTC and the descent was initiated by the co-pilot at 9.31 UTC- The pilot, in panic trying to get in, forgot the code to enter the cockpit from outside.
I read that copilot set the Flight Management System to automatically bring the plane down to 100 feet.- Gradually adjust the altitude of the plane to the point where it slammed into that mountain.
For this to be a murder/suicide crash, the co-pilot would have to do TWO things :
- Put the door system to 'lock' position, so that the pilot could not enter, and
- Gradually adjust the altitude of the plane to the point where it slammed into that mountain.
The question is : Given the evidence we have, can we truly rule out the scenario that the co-pilot became incapacitated ?
I'm thinking of the following scenario where the co-pilot (alone in the cockpit) became incapacitated (for whatever reason) and :
- The plane was still set to 'manual' mode, meaning that it is controlled by the joystick on the left of the seat, which the incapacitated co-pilot may be touching into a gentle 'nose down' position, and
- The pilot, in panic trying to get in, forgot the code to enter the cockpit from outside.
Can we truly rule-out that scenario, given the evidence at hand, or not ?
09:30:51Z.127 T,3c6618,43.119095,5.674247,38000,GWI18G
09:30:51Z.636 T,3c6618,43.120453,5.675092,38000,GWI18G
09:30:52Z.386 MCP/FMC ALT: 38000 ft QNH: 1006.0 hPa
09:30:52Z.567 T,3c6618,43.122208,5.676482,38000,GWI18G
09:30:53Z.036 T,3c6618,43.122894,5.676993,38000,GWI18G
09:30:53Z.546 T,3c6618,43.124271,5.678166,38000,GWI18G
09:30:54Z.083 MCP/FMC ALT: 13008 ft QNH: 1006.0 hPa
09:30:54Z.096 T,3c6618,43.125295,5.678689,38000,GWI18G
09:30:54Z.676 T,3c6618,43.125961,5.679421,38000,GWI18G
09:30:55Z.156 T,3c6618,43.127157,5.680259,38000,GWI18G
09:30:55Z.397 MCP/FMC ALT: 96 ft QNH: 1006.0 hPa
09:30:55Z.453 MCP/FMC ALT: 96 ft QNH: 1006.0 hPa
Between 09:30:52 and 09:30:55 we can see that the autopilot was manually changed from 38,000 feet to 100 feet and 9 seconds later the aircraft started to descend, probably with the "open descent" autopilot setting.
The reason why the selected altitude is 96ft is that least significant bit for altitude setting equals 16 ft, and we suspect that you can’t set autopilot to 0000 altitude, so the minimum would be 100ft down rounded to 96ft in binary representation in BDS40h register.
Is it possible that the co-pilot could have become incapacitated BEFORE the other pilot tried to gain entry to the cabin? And as for the lock on the inside of the cockpit door, would it be a standard procedure to lock it, even though it is already locked, just to prevent anyone who may be able to figure out the code from gaining entry? Like a terrorist that may have figured out what the codes were for the airline? If that is so then that may explain why he did not open the door for the other pilot, and why the plane was headed down (co-pilot incapacitated) while the other pilot was trying to gain entry. It is a stretch, but what do you all think? I am also very perplexed at how this could have happened or what could have went wrong with the co-pilot.The Airbus Flight control system is sophisticated, but not "intelligent".
To clear up some growing misconceptions...
It won't avoid a mountain.
It won't avoid another aircraft.
It won't avoid a thunderstorm.
It won't configure flaps and gear for an Autoland.
It can't Autoland on every runway.
It can't Autoland in any weather conditions.
It can't program itself.
It can't takeoff by itself.
It can't abort a takeoff by itself.
It won't avoid restricted airspace by itself.
It won't follow air traffic control instructions by itself.
It can't operate the speedbrakes, or the gear or the flaps by itself.
It can't figure out what speed and configuration to land at in abnormal conditions.
All those things must be done by the pilots
It will allow the aircraft to run out of fuel.
It can be placed in situations where it will allow a stall or a massive overspeed.
You could even roll it if you knew the system well enough.
It's just an aircraft.
Pilot incapacitation: there is no "click" when using the switch to deny entry. Three separate autopilot selections must be made to make the aircraft descend at VMO. It cannot happen by accident.
In open descent, the thrust will be at idle. Idle thrust increases as the aircraft descends due to increasing air pressure. That flattens out the descent profile as you get closer to the ground. Wind changes during descent will also affect an open des profile.
I know it's possible for regular breathing to occur even when unconscious, but exactly what would have caused such a rapid incapacitation?
I see Barcelona has a runway which points out over the Med, I'd assume they just carry on the way they're heading when they take off with a gentle turn towards their destination
That actually surprises me unless they have more than one runway. They tend to take off and land in the same direction to avoid any potential head on incidents. I know at Bristol though they DO change which direction they do both in, presumably due to wind direction.Having lived in Barcelona for over 6 years, and having flown from there to Ireland, Finland, and Germany, I can attest to the fact that all flights from that airport I've ever been on head out over the Med, and likewise those arriving also come into the airport from the Med. It's quite beautiful to look out and see the city spread out to your right as you arrive. Of course, it helps no end knowing that you'll soon be back in BCN, it's an amazing city to live in - once you get used to taking care of your stuff when you're out. Pickpockets are rampant there, many fly in from South America every summer just for that reason.
I'm not a pilot, so I don't know how many runways there are, but I always got the impression there was more than one.