black boxes | George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster

MH370: One Ping Does Not A Discovery Make. Or Does it?

GJHatcher — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 17:38:42 +0000

An underwater locator beacon (ULB) such as the one on the black boxes (CVR) Cockpit Voice Recorder and FDR (Flight Data Recorder) of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on 37.5 kHz for about 30 days at 4°C temperature. They run on lithium-ion batteries, and “mileage” may vary; 30 days is the minimum expectation. This is all relevant to today’s news because the Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 which is one of the ships equipped with a pinger locator, has heard a ping in the South Indian Ocean.

The particular frequency was selected because it is not one that occurs in nature.

Although Malaysia Airlines told the public that “This battery is not replaceable,” the ULB batteries had been scheduled for battery replacement in 2012, but were not replaced by Dukane Seacom, the original equipment manufacturer of the beacons. (Dukane Seacom either replaces the entire pinger or installed new batteries.) If replacement was not performed by toe OEM or other parties, the actual ping time may be less than 30 days.

One ping in an ocean does not a discovery make. The wreckage has not been located, nor the ping confirmed. But we can still hope this is a step in the right direction.

The post MH370: One Ping Does Not A Discovery Make. Or Does it? first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

LAO Airlines Crash Update

GJHatcher — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 19:03:54 +0000

At last the flight data recorder from the crash of a Lao Airlines turboprop ATR-72 has been recovered from the Mekong river. The cockpit voice recorder has been located also but has not yet been retrieved due to the strong currents and muddy water of the Mekong.

The flight data recorder tracks technical data: altitude, speed and route.

A cockpit voice recorder records cockpit conversation. The cockpit voice recorder has not been retrieved, though news releases to the contrary have been circulated.

Lao Airlines most recent press release:

Lao Airlines Victims Recovered in Mekong River

LAO Airlines Crash Update: Victims Named

Painful Search Continues in Laos

The post LAO Airlines Crash Update first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

Black Boxes Recovered, Interim Guess blames Antonov Failure on low vis Weather or Pilot Error

GJHatcher — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 04:32:31 +0000

Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Dmitriy Pichugin

What: Local carrier FGUPKAP twin-engine Antonov An-28 en route from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Yelizovo to Palana
Where: Palana village, Russia
When: Sept 12, 2012 12:28 p.m.
Who: 12 passengers, 2 crew, ten fatalities
Update: Two flight recorders retrieved on Thursday are bound for Moscow for examination. So far, the investigator has said that the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airlines plane lacked a ground proximity warning system which had been due for installation by Oct 1. Survior Palana chief firefighter Vladimir Shabalkov told the press that he and the three other survivors had survived because they had been thrown from the plane before it slammed into the mountainside. They all had been seated in the tail-area of the plane.

THe name of the 500-meter-high Cedar covered hill where the crash occurred is Pyatibratka Mountain. The pilot may not have seen the slope, and might have tried to land too early.

The post Black Boxes Recovered, Interim Guess blames Antonov Failure on low vis Weather or Pilot Error first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

Dana Air History Comes Out at Inquest

GJHatcher — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 15:43:20 +0000

While testifying at the coroner’s inquest before Lagos State Coroner Mr. Oyetade Komolafe, Tony Usidamen of Dana Air revealed that the Dana plane (registration number 5N-RAM) that crashed in Lagos in June 2012 had its engine replaced after a bird strike while outbound from Lagos on April 19, 2010.

Records indicate 5N-RAM also had hydraulic leaks on May 23 at Murtala Mohammed Airport.

On the June 3rd, the plane was making it’s third round trip and crashed close to it’s destination airport.

The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) investigator is Mr Emmanuel Dialla. His preliminary report said that the first sign of trouble came 17 minutes after the plane was airborne at 2.58pm, following a “non-normal” engine condition. According to the CVR at 1543:27 hours (3.43pm), the Captain informed the FO, “we just lost everything, we lost an engine. I lost both engines”…

Continuing Search for Sukhoi Superjet Wreckage Indicates Probable Black Box Location Buried Under Debris

GJHatcher — Mon, 14 May 2012 06:52:37 +0000

What: Sukhoi Superjet 100-95 en route from Jakarta to Jakarta Halim Perdanakusuma Airport
Where: Indonesia
When: May 9th 2012
Who: 36 passengers, 6 crew and 2 Sukhoi official
Why: Indonesian special police found the engines, running gear of the SSJ-100, and located (but have not retrieved) the black boxes. The Sukhoi cockpit design is similar to Airbus, with fly by wire technology and a “joystick.”

The Flight Data recorder is believed to be at a depth of 500 meters under rock and debris on the rockface, making the recovery tricky.

No answers have been found why the pilots requested to descend to 6,000 feet from an altitude of 10,000 feet, while flying above a 6000+ mountain in heavy cloud cover. The pilot was an experienced pilot but had not flown in this area and may not have been intimately familiar with the topography. Was he planning on buzzing the peaks, or was the plane in trouble? The black boxes will contain the answer.

The post Continuing Search for Sukhoi Superjet Wreckage Indicates Probable Black Box Location Buried Under Debris first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

NTSB Photo Opportunity with Caribbean Black Boxes

GJHatcher — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:37:55 +0000

WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a
photo availability on Tuesday, August 2, 2011 of the flight data recorder
and cockpit voice recorder from Caribbean Airlines flight 523, which
crashed during landing on Saturday July 30, 2011 in Georgetown,
Guyana.
Event: Photo Availability

Date/Time: Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 11:30 a.m. (EDT)

Location: NTSB Headquarters
6th Floor
490 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, DC, 20594

Note: This is a photo availability only – no interviews will be conducted.
Guyana’s Civil Aviation Authority is leading the investigation.

The post NTSB Photo Opportunity with Caribbean Black Boxes first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

Flight Data Recorders Beyond 447

GJHatcher — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:20:13 +0000

Honeywell could be resting on its laurels, since the Honeywell Flight Data Recorders aboard Air France Flight 447 certainly performed, resisting two years worth of extreme water pressure and temperature. Skeptics did not expect the data to be recoverable. The fact is that the flight data recorders working for two years at 12,800 feet is operability beyond the design parameters. They were only expected to last about 28 days under water.

The FDR reports confirmed that in the minutes leading up to the crash, pilots were given conflicting speed readings.

The event does provide Honeywell a wakeup call with at least one FDR feature.

The only thing that gave out within 28 days was the battery. Honeywell plans to extend battery life.

The post Flight Data Recorders Beyond 447 first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

Dubai: UPS Boeing Black Boxes Sent to US

GJHatcher — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 18:24:43 +0000

The NTSB has received the data and voice recorders from the UPS Boeing 747-400 that crashed in Dubai on Sept 3 2010.

Two crew members died in the cargo plane crash after an on board fire that made viewing flight gauges impossible.

The post Dubai: UPS Boeing Black Boxes Sent to US first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.