24 error messages

[BrilloPad]

I reckon it is getting blocked by dirt, nothing more complicated than that. Why the dirt's getting in there is interesting.

Remember you read it here first.

threaded in "Lanchester-Prandtl" mode

Wasn't there one incident where it was blocked by an insect?

[threaded]

Wasn't there one incident where it was blocked by an insect?

It's pretty common in small aircraft for insects to get in there. Some even fit covers to prevent this, which brings it own problems... What tends to have happened is that the pilot hasn't taken the cover off, or checked the opening properly. Then what happens, if they're lucky, is they get a stall warning as they start to roll down the runway, if they're a little unluckier they abort take-off at a higher speed than they think they're going (because they're getting incorrect speed indications) and hit some barrier at the end of the runway.

[TimberWolf]

It's pretty common in small aircraft for insects to get in there. Some even fit covers to prevent this, which brings it own problems... What tends to have happened is that the pilot hasn't taken the cover off, or checked the opening properly. Then what happens, if they're lucky, is they get a stall warning as they start to roll down the runway, if they're a little unluckier they abort take-off at a higher speed than they think they're going (because they're getting incorrect speed indications) and hit some barrier at the end of the runway.

A faulty airspeed indicator can't be the whole story though, even if not a red herring, surely? Why for instance didn't the captain radio a message to air traffic control when he knew they were in trouble? He must have been aware of problems as surely as the automatic system? Likewise presumably there are ways of keeping an aircraft in the air when a system fails, even if -at worst - this requires manually flying the aircraft and guessing the air speed from engine noise, or whatever.

[The Lone Gunman]

A faulty airspeed indicator can't be the whole story though, even if not a red herring, surely? Why for instance didn't the captain radio a message to air traffic control when he knew they were in trouble? He must have been aware of problems as surely as the automatic system? Likewise presumably there are ways of keeping an aircraft in the air when a system fails, even if -at worst - this requires manually flying the aircraft and guessing the air speed from engine noise, or whatever.

That is another question worth asking.
Why no Mayday?
That would lead to the notion that there was some sort of catastrophic failure and that doesnt follow this engine failure proposal.
Like you rightly say, there are other means of calculating the aircrafts airspeed. Dont know what they are, but I would suspect they have sat nav systems and some sort of ping to ground (or floating) beacons, and probably others.

Threaded: I thought they made the pitot tube covers bright orange or red with "remove before flight" written on them to avoid one of your suggestions?

[threaded]

Threaded: I thought they made the pitot tube covers bright orange or red with "remove before flight" written on them to avoid one of your suggestions?

They do, but people still forget...

Sometimes they're home made, from an old sock...

[BrilloPad]

It's pretty common in small aircraft for insects to get in there. Some even fit covers to prevent this, which brings it own problems... What tends to have happened is that the pilot hasn't taken the cover off, or checked the opening properly. Then what happens, if they're lucky, is they get a stall warning as they start to roll down the runway, if they're a little unluckier they abort take-off at a higher speed than they think they're going (because they're getting incorrect speed indications) and hit some barrier at the end of the runway.

Indeed. It happened in a crash. I saw it on air crash investigation.

I must ban Mrs BP from watching that programme.....

[niche]

They have found two bodies so closer to finding the wreckage.
We need answers

[threaded]

I read somewhere that the controls change state as the airspeed varies... which might be a tad interesting.

And the pilot has no control over the state the control system is in...

Trueish. Here's one that amused me: some company were ground testing the engines, and because some other system kept making warning noises they pulled a fuse to shut it up, which had the knock on effect of making the aircraft brakes release, it would have jumped its chocks even if they'd placed some, and off it went. Why the crew never got round to throttling back the engines before they crashed into the wall at the end of the runway, and totalled the aircraft, just goes to show you how complex these beasties are.

linky

And this scenario has happened at least twice to my knowledge (another happened in Canada)

[BrilloPad]

They have found two bodies so closer to finding the wreckage.
We need answers

Even if they find the wreckage its going to be about 2 miles down so very hard to recover?

[Moscow Mule]

Even if they find the wreckage its going to be about 2 miles down so very hard to recover?

Most likely too deep to recover big lumps of plane, but well within ROV depth limits for video inspection.

There's a few manned submersibles that can get that deep, but I'm not sure I see the benefit.