Uh oh...another Airbus is down.

[SoonerStormchaser]

Yemenia A310-300 with 150 is down off the coast of Comoros (that's near Africa for those of you geographically challenged).

Not a good few weeks for Airbus...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/29/yemen.plane.crash/index.html

[olevetonahill]

Kinda like celebrities huh ?:D

[Crucifax Autumn]

Isn't that the plane they rolled out to such acclaim because it virtually eliminates pilot error? I watched a Discovery channel thing where Bruce Dickinson...Yep, singer of Iron Maiden and a pilot, who admittedly said he prefers Boeing aircraft...was basicall TRYING to crash the thing by banking hard enough to go into a spin in a typical plane and then also pulling the nose up to almost vertical without throttling uo trying to kill the engine and in each attempt the flight computer totally made up for anything he did.

I guess my question is...WTF is going on with these planes or was it a different model?

[SoonerStormchaser]

Yah...

...I may fly on one old *** airframe...but when's the last time you heard of a Boeing 707 falling out of the sky?

[Crucifax Autumn]

And while I'm on WTF????s

Why is it that certain builders of planes and basically anything else in transportation have 2, 3, or 10 of these things happen in rapid succession all the time?

[KABOOKIE]

They're gonna be Groundbuses by the FAA pretty soon.

[Crucifax Autumn]

That's true enough...and actually I waswrong on my statement, though the A330 probably has similar features and I'm guessing based on the video that the 310 does not...the vid features the A320 and I guess based on what happened to the French one there's no real indication that those particular systems failed to do their job.

But you have to admit, this is cool stuff and it's not that frequently you get to watch a guy try to rip a plane apart in mid-flight!

IKBABNL-DDM

[JohnnyMack]

They're gonna be Groundbuses by the FAA pretty soon.

You're a dumbassbus.

[KABOOKIE]

Post reported.

[OklahomaTuba]

The French surrender to everything, even inclement weather.

[Oldnslo]

And while I'm on WTF????s

Why is it that certain builders of planes and basically anything else in transportation have 2, 3, or 10 of these things happen in rapid succession all the time?

My guess:

They don't buy these one at a time. If a batch is going to experience failure within a certain window of time or use, that batch hits that time or usage at about the same calendar date.

but in reality, I don't know what I'm talking about.

[Red October]

Great, another aviation topic, which is probably really the only thing I can speak intellegently about.. Ever... Well, beer also, but that is another thread.

This probably isnt Airbus's fault. I am going to stretch and say the Air France 447 probably isnt Airbus's fault either. Most likely it is a situation in which the pilots werent trained for or capable to handle. (combination of weather, system or systems failure, possibly fatigue) which is a fancy way of saying pilot error. (No offense Stormchaser)

There are hundereds of combinations of possibilities which can go wrong during flight, and anyone who knows anything about aviation, not one single event or action causes an airplane crash, it is a sequential series of events or actions which happen and ultimatley lead up to a crash.

I will close by saying that I will put my wife and kids on practically any Major US, Asian, or European airline, no matter what the aircraft type. However, some "fly by night charter airlines, and some airlines based in Africa, South America, and even some in Europe and Asia, not so much... as probably was the case with this incident because this particular airframe was banned from flying in France and the EU due to shoddy maintenance.

http://avherald.com/h?article=41befd4e&opt=0

[Red October]

Isn't that the plane they rolled out to such acclaim because it virtually eliminates pilot error? I watched a Discovery channel thing where Bruce Dickinson...Yep, singer of Iron Maiden and a pilot, who admittedly said he prefers Boeing aircraft...was basicall TRYING to crash the thing by banking hard enough to go into a spin in a typical plane and then also pulling the nose up to almost vertical without throttling uo trying to kill the engine and in each attempt the flight computer totally made up for anything he did.

I guess my question is...WTF is going on with these planes or was it a different model?

Another subject I am overqualified on is Iron Maiden. Huge Longime Fan, and have seen them a dozen or so times in the past 25+ years. I even went to Paris France for a Maiden Concert... Yes, I drank beer there too..

Yes, I saw that episode a few years back, It was actually on the internet, and it was some british or european program about planes or something, and not on American TV, but I could be wrong. Bruce is type rated in the 757 and 737, and he "popped his cherry" in Boeing planes, and he personally prefers Boeing because the company he flies for when he isnt singing; Astreaus Airlines, flies an all Boeing fleet.

That episode was on a A320. The A310 in the crash is a much older design, and not as techniologically advanced as the A320.

Bottom line is there is no friggin way in hell you can totally eliminate pilot error. Maybe on some basic functions like overspeed, bank, AOA, excessive g's, and maybe dozens of other items, and this is assuming the aircraft is properly maintained and all systems are working properly, including backups.

Now put that nice airplane in the hands of some third world country's airline with hardly any money, and just wait for the accidents to pile up, besides, this kind of thing happens all the time in third world countries and it rarely makes any news here in the states.

The only reason this came up is because it is a month after Air France 447, otherwise, I doubt it would make headlines.

I have personally been to aircraft baintenance bases in Mexico, Bolivia, Chile and Venezuela and it scared the crap out of me to see what kind of maintenance (or lack thereof) goes on there. Africa, as a whole, I am sure is not much different.

[OUstud]

Never question Bruce Dickinson! [/Walken]

[GottaHavePride]

However, some "fly by night charter airlines, and some airlines based in Africa, South America, and even some in Europe and Asia, not so much... as probably was the case with this incident because this particular airframe was banned from flying in France and the EU due to shoddy maintenance.

http://avherald.com/h?article=41befd4e&opt=0

That was going to be my guess. I just can't imagine an airline based in Yemen is going to be the latest and greatest in maintaining their fleet...