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Thunderstorms and you

N941WR

N941WR

Legacy Member
Sad news this morning as it looks like a thunderstorm may have taken down an A330.

If a storm can take down something as large as an A330, just think what it can do to our little RV's.

Please be careful when flying in and around clouds! I realize a number of us fly with XM weather, which is not availble out over the Atlantic. Still, weather reporting has its limitations.
 
Sad day

This is my airline and my airplane.
I learned this this morning coming back home from JFK.
The phone rang the whole afternoon (it's 6 pm on this side of the Atlantic), the crewmember's names have not yet been disclosed so family and friends where concerned.
I think everything, even the whereabouts of the aircraft is pure speculation.
Waiting and hoping is the only thing we can do for the time being.
 
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pgroell said:
This is my airline and my airplane.
I learned this this morning coming back home from JFK.
The phone rang the whole afternoon (it's 6 pm on this side of the Atlantic), the crewmember's names have not yet been disclosed so family and friends where concerned.
I think everything, even the whereabouts of the aircraft is pure speculation.
Waiting and hoping is the only thing we can do for the time being.
Click to expand...

Pascal,

Sorry to hear about the accident. I'm sure you and the rest of your airline are in shock over this accident.

I think I'm safe in saying that the crew and passengers are in all of our prayers along with the family, friends, and co-workers of those on board the flight.
 
pgroell said:
This is my airline and my airplane.
I learned this this morning coming back home from JFK.
The phone rang the whole afternoon (it's 6 pm on this side of the Atlantic), the crewmember's names have not yet been disclosed so family and friends where concerned.
I think everything, even the whereabouts of the aircraft is pure speculation.
Waiting and hoping is the only thing we can do for the time being.
Click to expand...

Sorry for your loss.

Words are pretty shallow in times like these.
 
We don't really know what has happened yet, but it doesn't look good so far. Given where and when it occurred, it might be a while before we know much. Still, I'm hoping there are survivors.

However, I'm curious about what we do know so far. It sounds like the aircraft sent out an automated message via ACARS that it lost the main electrical busses. Any A330/340 drivers out there than can help us with A330/340 systems? Is it normal for the aircraft to sent out ACARS messages for events like this?

TODR
 
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the_other_dougreeves said:
We don't really know what has happened yet, but it doesn't look good so far. Given the where, it might be a while. Still, I'm hoping there are survivors.

However, I'm curious about what we do know so far. It sounds like the aircraft sent out an automated message via ACARS that it lost the main electrical busses. Any A330/340 drivers out there than can help us with A330/340 systems? Is it normal for the aircraft to sent out ACARS messages for events like this?

TODR
Click to expand...

It is being reported now that not only did the automated message indicate an electrical failure (of unknown extent), but also a cabin pressure loss. This does not bode well for the integrity of the aircraft if both those events presumably happened together. I don't mean to fuel speculation here, but can anyone say what levels of events trigger this type of message from the aircraft? i.e. - what type of electrical failure, and for how long, will trigger that message, and what cabin pressure level? What is the time difference between the event trigger and the message transmission?
 
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Thanks

Thanks for the kind words.
As for the ACARS, the aircraft is continuously sending informations about it's status to the maintenance department.
There are routine messages monitoring the engines and aircraft systems (what the flight engineer used to do in the old times).
And there are messages send each time an abnormal situation is encountered. The abnormal situation might be anything between a faulty sensor (which sometimes the crew doesn't even get alerted to) to engine power losses, computer faults.....
The message gets send only a handful of seconds after the event occurs.
I think the logs of the Rio-Paris flight ACARS are being read at this time to make out the sequence of events.
 
Electrics and not just in vcty TRWs

Of course our heartfelt sympathy goes out to all those affected by this tragedy.

While not wanting to speculate as to what happened to this A330, my airline had a B757, over CONUS, get down to battery pwr (30 mins max battery life, as battery charger was unpowered, but hot battery bus was powered), and with no TRWs involved. Had it lost ALL power, and/or been over blue water or Deep South America, you would've undoubtedly read about it, seen it on the news also. The details are largely irrelevant, but the point being that even with highly redundant systems, serious failure modes can arise even in commercial jets, and even absent nearby TRW activity. You can still have a power source(s), but if the right relays, switches, etc. fail, well you have left whatever is left, no matter what "the book" says.

So, to the point of this thread. We read here about some very complex avionics/electrical systems in light airplanes. Especially if you fly IFR/night, this might be a good time to sit back and assess what failures modes could occur, even multiple, and how any of your systems, and not just electrical, may need to be modified accordingly. Do you really understand how it all works? Interconnects?
 
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I was flying over the Atlantic yesterday night from Euroupe to Southamerica in an Airbus 340, when I watched the terrible news just arriving home, I just can think about my son and family.

Very sad news, my condolence and feeling to families of crewmember and passengers.
 
Pascal,
Words can't convey how sorry I am to hear all this. You and all those affected are in my prayers.
Kindest,
Doug R.
 
My heart goes out to the families and friend of those on the plane.

Aren't large jet flying very high to avoid the weather?
 
Aviator168 said:
My heart goes out to the families and friend of those on the plane.

Aren't large jet flying very high to avoid the weather?
Click to expand...

To a degree, yes. Thunderstorms (even relatively mild ones) can easily reach into the mid-40's, and this aircraft was cruising at FL350. Big thunderstorms routinely break FL500, and occasionally you'll see a true monster supercell hit FL600. You're not climbing above that without military equipment, best to see and avoid.
 
And perhaps with a big electrical problem they ran out of "SEE" and could not "AVOID"............:eek:

Does sound nasty circumstances.

Poor souls!
 
pgroell said:
This is my airline and my airplane.
I learned this this morning coming back home from JFK.
The phone rang the whole afternoon (it's 6 pm on this side of the Atlantic), the crewmember's names have not yet been disclosed so family and friends where concerned.
I think everything, even the whereabouts of the aircraft is pure speculation.
Waiting and hoping is the only thing we can do for the time being.
Click to expand...

Pascal,

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your fellow crewmembers and passengers.

Respectfully,
Tom
ex-A330 driver
 
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There are over 1500 posts on airliners.net discussing this subject. I have read most of them. It's just an unbelievable and tragic event.

There is lots of information and downright misinformation and misunderstandings out there about aviation and communications technologies. Even among aviation oriented people.
 
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Brian, thx for the link to that site. Geez, these guys just blundered right into a massive cell cluster. I can't imagine how they could have missed this one if they had the WX radar turned on. Probably flying at night with cockpit lights on full bright (typical for long haul crews on an all-nighter) and weren't minding the store at all. The lightning from that thing would have been impressive even without the radar.
 
Web chatter now is that the ACARS indicated a mismatch from different airspeed sources. If this had occurred after electrical failure, then all bets are off. *PURE SPECULATION* among some reporting services is that the jet lost airspeed indications and dropped the nose (stick pusher) to avoid aerodynamic stall while at cruise speed, then got into "Mach tuck" and couldn't be pulled back out before breaking up in the turbulence of the thunderstorm they were flying through.

Like I said - pure speculation until they find the FDR/CVR.
 
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