Ohhh #.

Thats what they said on the news, TURBULENCE. Aircraft entered some kind of tropical storm? And reported heavy turbulence on the way thro mid atlantic!!!

Imagine what kind of jerkings was going on that caused electrical failure!!

Actually, this seems more than a turbulence. Actually, the aircraft seems to have been flying through a storm and it seems that it was struck by lightning, causing failure of all electrical systems resulting in loss of control. But generally these aircrafts do have safety systems to handle this. But there is a limit to what the systems can handle. The lightning strike was supposed to catastrophic, maybe, it was struck by sprite lightning. Who knows? Let the investigation report come. We will get a clear picture then.

Turbulence does not bring down planes.

This is for a few reasons. One, the jerking motion you feel during turbulence is generally a combination of hot air pushing the plane upwards and the pilots pushing the plane down to keep level. So when you feel one of those big releases where the plane feels like it drops 50 feet and your stomach is still on the ceiling, you're experiencing the hot air stopping while the plane was still compensating.

That being said, storms and high winds create the need for compensation and the rattling can knock something 'loose' potentially. The point I'd like to make is that the everyday turbulence you feel really isn't that dangerous, it seems a lot worse than it is. I wouldn't cite this French plane as an example of why you should fear turbulence. It is very common and does not have a history of causing plane crashes. I would say this is like friends mildly electrocuting each other (ha, not a tazer but a dog shock collar and a few competitive friends makes for an odd afternoon) and discovering one had a heart condition which didn't like the jolt. Not the best example, just trying to say don't let this be a reason to fear flying because of turbulence.

Coming from a small plane private pilot...
I can say turbulence will rip the wings off a small light aircraft...
Normally these bigger jets are designed to take a fare amount of turbulence but if something wasn't bolted down or a thing lose in the compartment where electrical systems are stacked then I can see a failure that would bring down a jumbo despite all the backup systems

ACARS final report was of elecrical and pressure failure at 435kts FL350 , ACRS then stopped reporting


i would say the aircraft broke up in flight.

Any official reports as to where it crashed yet? I would imagine it would be possible to track the jet with GPS???

Thing is, if it crashed it crashed in the ocean, is it possible to survive jump to water from such altitude?

I reckon if your a hard cookie, you COULD theoreticaly survive impact into water if you jump standing/verticaly

I bet your flight recorder is at the bottom of atlantic ocean

"Black Boxes" are designed to float, and usually have some kind of beacon attached to make recovery much easier.

Though what things are designed to do, and what they actually do can be different things.

Otherwise - I'd say the problem is that it was an airbus.....

I don't trust those planes.

Of course - by that same token, I don't trust a lot of the commercial aircraft - particularly the older, fatigued airframes. You've got a lot of former military people working on those birds, and they are used to the 100% materials inspection that goes along with milspec products. The civilian end of the bargain isn't 100% screened, and with the horror-stories to be told about military aviation... it doesn't make me incredibly confident with the commercial industry.

As for the cause - it could be anything - a mechanical fault/failure; a flight control system error (certain flight parameters can cause the system to get confused and think it is stalling when it isn't - and those programming oversights like to rear their heads at inopportune moments); or a fault in the grounding systems that are supposed to harden the plane against various electrostatic and electromagnetic problems.

Or the Chinese just tested a new ASAT weapon in a place no one would suspect.....

Or the Greys were repossessing some of the technology we loaned from them......

Pick your insanity.

Our only hope is that the missing jet is in some form of transdimensional malfunction and passangers are sucked into another world

I kinda get a feeling something mysterious / paranormal happened to this plane

Originally posted by Freeman
Thing is, if it crashed it crashed in the ocean, is it possible to survive jump to water from such altitude?

I reckon if your a hard cookie, you COULD theoreticaly survive impact into water if you jump standing/verticaly

Well... probably not...
"The terminal velocity of a falling human being with arms and legs outstretched is about 120 miles per hour (192 km per hour) — slower than a lead balloon, but a good deal faster than a feather!"
"For a skydiver with parachute closed,standing/vertically the terminal velocity is about 200 km/h. or around 250 mph"
Odd fact when people in street clothes fall out of air planes the wind rips off their clothes so you'll be naked too...

average commercial jet in 80 degree weather, at 35000 feet, it is -25 up there... Air pressure is so low you cant fill your lung with enough air even if you had o2 (unpressurized mask that is)

So could you theoretically survive...sure with a lot of provisions and a hell of a lot of luck but the odds favor you being dead before you fell below the 12,000 foot mark... in cases like these its not the landing that does you in...it is the fall



edited to correct the blip my 18 month old granddaughter made when smacking the laptop



[edit on 1-6-2009 by DaddyBare]