This article along with several accidents over the last few years makes me leery of flying Airbus aircraft.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/washington/6565349.html
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/washington/6565349.html
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Faulty airspeed sensors found on jets
- Thread starter Alpha_Echo_606
- Start date
"All of the incidents took place in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, which extends from 5 degrees north of the equator to 5 degrees south"
Is that region more prone to having icing conditions?
Is that region more prone to having icing conditions?
Ummmmmmm ... no, not 'more prone' ... as you can theoretically ice up at any latitude when icing conditions are present. But there IS a lot of humidity in that '5&5' area you're refrencing ... which could ratchet up the total amount of moisture present when you enter icing conditions at altitude and/or the upper regions of an area of CB's and catch you by surprise -- the surfaces of your aircraft being the 'ice nuclei' which springs the trap on the unwary pilot. In other words, the supercooled water droplets will be suspended in the CB cloud 'waiting for you' until you fly into it without anti-icing systems up & running prior ... potentially setting you up for a bad day.
Disclaimer: I'm not a meteorologist nor a scientist nor an engineer ... I don't build 'em ... I just fly 'em.
On a lighter note, and for a little bit 'further north' of 5 degrees, here's a look at the Rooskie north Pacific islands where you can expect icing anytime when you're in the clag ... although in this pix it's an unusually 'nice' day ... but it's a 'dry' cold.
photo by A4sForever
Doesn't the pitot system have a heat function to keep it from icing up? And wouldn't it be standard operation to turn it on before reaching altitude? Forgive me if these are stupid questions but I know Jack about the Airbus. I’ve only walked past a few at work and never really took an interest in them.
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
Every IFR rated aircraft I have flown has pitot anti ice, and it's always been SOP to either turn on before takeoff or when below a certain temp in visible moisture.
^ That's kind of what I was thinking; it seems odd that Airbus and Thales Corp are having this sensor problem. I wish I could find more info on the particulars of their system.
And even gets turned on on the ground, and maybe not turned off on landing/postflight. That's why you should NEVER walk up to a pitot tube and put your bare hand on it, unless you enjoy the feeling of burning flesh...
Pitot heat was always turned on/on from block-to-block ... engine heat when required/desired/icing conditions anticipated ... & wing heat ??? I probably used it no more than 5-10 times in @ 25K flight hours ... the joys of swept wing.
The only times I've seen pitot/static problems was with the failure of a heating system or a plugged/damaged source. Obviously, I've never INTENTIONALLY turned off a pitot heater airborne and continued to fly unless it was part of an emergency/abnormal procedure, but I know of some occurrences of it happening with less than satisfactory results.
Tried to take off at NAS CC one time in a Cessna 150 with a plugged pitot tube. Airspeed was normal until about 40 kts and then it started back down.
Aborted the T/O and found that insects had stuffed the tubing behind the probe. The plane belonged to the defunct base flying club and my boss wanted to buy it, but wasn't current, so I was taking it over to CRP for him.
Which is a good reason to ALWAYS incorporate a 'line-speed check' into your take-off procedure ... we were taught from day one to do that, any type aircraft ... I'm not so sure it's followed today, as a lot of my civie-street trained copilots on the airline didn't do one out of habit/practice and a couple had never heard of one ... that is, prior to flying w/ me ...
Which is a good reason to ALWAYS incorporate a 'line-speed check' into your take-off procedure ... we were taught from day one to do that, any type aircraft ... I'm not so sure it's followed today, as a lot of my civie-street trained copilots on the airline didn't do one out of habit/practice and a couple had never heard of one ... that is, prior to flying w/ me ...
I had never done a line speed check until I got to T-45's. I had always figured the reasoning was that with props, you have a cockpit indication of how much thrust you are making (or at least you know what a good engine sounds like), whereas in jets you really have no idea. Makes sense about the airspeed indication check.
Which is a good reason to ALWAYS incorporate a 'line-speed check' into your take-off procedure ... we were taught from day one to do that, any type aircraft ... I'm not so sure it's followed today, as a lot of my civie-street trained copilots on the airline didn't do one out of habit/practice and a couple had never heard of one ... that is, prior to flying w/ me ...
Still standard procedure in the Prowler. Part of the front-seat littany during the T/O roll.
Brett
It's just a fancy name for the Bermuda Triangle.
Actually you do in jets ... but that's for another discussion.
But still, yeah ... you never know whether you're 'loaded' to the right dispatch specs ... you might be too heavy (fuel/freight/pax) and/or the airport is too high (out on a X-Country or at an unfamiliar airport, you say .. ???) or they might 'switch runways' on you while you're taxiing or maybe it's just too 'hot' for what one might consider 'normal' ops ...
Based on how you 'think' you're loaded ... the atmospheric conditions ... and the airport/runway in question ... it's ALWAYS good to know what speed you should be lookin' at by so-much-runway behind me ... and with so-much-runway left to go in front of me.
Don't 'guess' ... unless you have tons of experience ... or you're really, really 'good' .... or preferably, both. And then still do a line-speed check ...