'Event' in EgyptAir plane's tail caused crash

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

News 24 South Africa reports: 'Event' in EgyptAir plane's tail caused crash

Cairo - "Something happened" in the tail of the EgyptAir Boeing 767 which crashed into the sea on October 31 shortly after take off from New York, killing all 217 people aboard, the chairman of EgyptAir announced on Monday. "The plane plummeted because of something that happened in its tail," Mohammed Fahim Rayyan told journalists, but did not say whether it was an accident or an act of sabotage. He said the Egyptian team working with the US investigators "refuted all the allegations made about the plane's crew".

Link to story:

http://news.24.com/English/Africa/Northern_Africa/ENG_218435_925670_SEO.asp

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 11, 2000

Answers

The plane first dived, then rose again before its final drop to the water. If the ailerons were disabled this is hard to imagine.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), January 11, 2000.

Ailerons we don't need no stinkin ailerons...

-- Authorities (Government@Cairo.com), January 11, 2000.

Do you mean elevators?

-- Earl (earl.shuholm@worldnet.att.net), January 11, 2000.

"The plane plummeted because of something that happened in its tail,"

Something happened in tail alright, what happened was that the elevators moved to change the pitch of the aircraft. Whether it was due to pilot input or control failure will probably be debated for some time to come. But as an example of the effect of elevator movement, when I am teaching students to fly a glider, one of the exercises I give is this: (I am a voluntary gliding instructor at our local flying club)

Push the column gently forward, notice that things on the ground are getting bigger. Now pull back gently on the column, notice that things on the ground are getting smaller. Pull the column all the way back. oops, notice that things on the ground are getting bigger again.

What happens is that as the control column is pushed forward, the elevators drop and cause the aircraft to dive, increasing its speed at the same time. As the control column is pulled back the elevators raise, and the aircraft starts to climb and lose speed. If at this point the column is pulled hard back then on of two things can happen. If the speed has dropped low, then on pulling hard back the aicraft will stall, pitch violently forward and descend in a dive. (sound familiar?). If there is still sufficient speed then the aircraft will pull right over the top in a loop, and then dive with an increase in speed. Either way, an aircraft that is already diving, if it has it elevators suddenly raised, will appear to start to climb, followed by a steep and very rapid descent.

-- Malcolm Taylor (taylorm@es.co.nz), January 11, 2000.


Thanks, apparently 'elevators' is the term I wanted. But the point was that the aircraft began its malfunction by diving. This seems to rule out the assumption that it was caused by "something" disabling the tail control surfaces, since we've already been told that the flight recorder shows that the dive was initiated by pilot action. If the "something" claimed to have occurred in the tail section was disabling, the flight recorder presumably would have shown something else.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), January 11, 2000.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ