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Wed Jun 3 14:34:44 BST 2009

Wasn't this air bus prone to having its tail segment dislodge like the one in new york in the wake of 9/11?dn
------Original Message------
From: Lorick Fox, PA-C
Sender: trauma-list-bounces at trauma.org
To: trauma-list at trauma.org
ReplyTo: Trauma-List [TRAUMA.ORG]
Subject: Air France Flight Disappearance - THEORY
Sent: Jun 3, 2009 05:28

(Cross post from CCM-L) Unfortunately, although there may be various variations (if they ever find the flight data recorder), the cause of this crash is likely to be pretty simple:  Airplanes and thunderstorms don't mix. There is no airplane that is turbulence and ice proof at the levels thunderstorms achieve. The tops of the storms were reported at or above the cruising altitude of the aircraft. Airborne radar only shows what is in front of the aircraft so you can't look at the big picture in the Atlantic real time. In the US, I can ask the weather folks (and ATC if they turn off the filters that remove weather from their radar scopes) for additional information. I don't believe that option is available in the middle of the Atlantic. If you have nowhere to go as you try to thread through storms that doesn't contain a cell, you lose. The space you came through may now contain another storm, so you can't even turn back.  Generally, turning back is a bad idea once you are in the turbulence because of the greater forces on the aircraft in a turn.. I flew (on instruments) through a cold front once in a Cessna 182.  Normally I would never do so, but we were looking for two missing students who had flown back to their base from a trip and never got there. Their Emergency Locator beacon (ELT) had been heard. We were the only aircraft/crew able to do ELT search in instrument conditions that could be there in a prompt time frame and we had no idea if they were alive. Survival drops > 75% (some say 90%) after 24 hours. After talking with Flight Service meteorologist and the ATC controller for the area, we decided we could make the flight with an acceptable level of safety. For about a minute, I couldn't maintain the aircraft altitude within 1000' (i.e. we were pushed up and down by turbulence > 3000' total),  Usual tolerance is +/- 100'. That was a cold front, not a thunderstorm, with the penetration selected based on expert guidance, real time. Admittedly, a tiny airplane compared to an airliner. It is amazing what ATC will do when you have "Rescue" on the front of your call sign. (We found them on the side of a mountain, night and still on instruments.  Ground team went in, no survivors.) Lorick-- trauma-list : TRAUMA.ORG To change your settings or unsubscribe visit: http://www.trauma.org/index.php?/community/ 
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Air France Flight Disappearance - THEORY