Landing the A380

[jd750ace]

http://www.wimp.com/approachlanding/

The digital cockpit at work.

 

[jetmechmarty]

When I look in the cockpit and see a traytable in front of each pilot instead of a yoke, it's unnerving. I am comforted by cables. I like the saying, "If its not Boeing, I'm not going!"

Joysticks are for video games!

 

[jd750ace]

Can't say I'm a huge fan of non-linked flight controls, but I gotta tell ya, pulling a throttle assembly (Rotary Variable Displacement Transmitters) out of a jet and rigging it on the bench sure beats the snot out of chasing Teleflex cables all through the damn ship. I've seen a few times what happens when brake by wire fails too, so I guess I'm conflicted!

Brake by wire failure Embraer Phenom 100 Arizona

 

[EvenmoreXS]

Can't say I'm a huge fan of non-linked flight controls, but I gotta tell ya, pulling a throttle assembly (Rotary Variable Displacement Transmitters) out of a jet and rigging it on the bench sure beats the snot out of chasing Teleflex cables all through the damn ship. I've seen a few times what happens when brake by wire fails too, so I guess I'm conflicted!

Brake by wire failure Embraer Phenom 100 New Mexico

I want that pilot on my next flight. Was that Sully maybe? It looks like it did a belly flop from 5 feet, not a crash landing.

 

[jetmechmarty]

I know, but that table in front of the capt just looks wrong! Put a couple of yokes in there and bus them together to make me feel better. This is even though I know those guys are just sitting up there reading Playboy. I've had a bunch of recent trips across the pond in the A340. It is a nice airplane!

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

You're on short final, 200' agl, full dirty, suddenly a heavy inadvertently crosses your active, do you do a ctrl-alt-delete?

 

[jd750ace]

ESCAPE BUTTON!

Hey,

He told it to continue at decision height!

 

[jd750ace]

I want that pilot on my next flight. Was that Sully maybe? It looks like it did a belly flop from 5 feet, not a crash landing.

Actually it ran off the end of the runway and slid 300 feet down the side of a mesa. It was in Arizona, not New Mexico. Sorry, that was another one, along with Brenam Texas (6 days to fix that dang thing up for a ferry permit to Dallas!) and Sau Polo Brazil, but who keeps track of these things? All better now.

 

[haxto]

Orange County Airport (John Wayne) 1994
Breaking the Sound Barrier

 

[jd750ace]

Aaaaaah the Saberliner. The original lead sled! Bob Hoover approved noise maker. Had my fair share of those things.

 

[Unfocused]

Very interesting video. As you may know most cars are drive by wire these days, along with electric power steering. Change is eminent. The future is now.

 

[jd750ace]

Brake by wire is all over the place now, as is digital throttle control. There are some indirect primary flight controls, but I have yet to mess with them. Digital trim and autopilot (no cables) yes, several of them, but not primary flight controls yet (for me at least). I've worked on them from 1917 models to 2013 models. Believe me, MANY of the changes are GOOD! Newer aircraft are so much easier to maintain, it's insane. Older aircraft can frustrate the shit out of you sometimes, but when you look at how problems were solved way back then, and realize that so many of the solutions we have today that simplify our lives just did not exist back then, it takes a little edge off it. Working on older aircraft is a great lesson in ingenuity and utility. Frills do not abound, and simplicity is relative. Funny you mention electric steering. That was actually tried many years ago by a few manufacturers in the light jet market, and let me tell you, it wasn't ready for prime time (thinking Lear 20/30 series here, if anyone is familiar) What a HUGE pain in the ass to rig and troubleshoot!

People joke in our industry about "living the dream" Poking fun at the lack of riches and recognition for what we do, but I wanted to fix aircraft since I was 12 years old. 31 years down the road, STILL living the dream, for real.

 

[haxto]

So Ace, I'm trying to figure out if your Pro-Glass Cockpit or not? I think its fantastic! Or is it just the "fly-by-wire" that you seem not to be sold on? The Cirrus is a work of art. It's just so incredibly expensive for a gas powered, single engine, prop driven airplane.
I haven't kept up with this stuff in years but the Sport Pilot licence and a home built was something that had my interest for a while.
How long have you been in THE WAX, there? Wondering what they ever did with The Super-Coliding Super-Conductor?

 

[jd750ace]

Well, having gone through the RVSM thing 10 years or so ago with a bunch of old ratty steam gauge having monsters and having to rebuild entire panels to get the more accurate altimeters in, and doing Autopilot STCs on some of those old things to get in compliance, I was pretty sick of old school!
As far as glass cockpit, I'm 100% Sold on the Garmin G1000 package. Intuitive, informative, expandable (EASILY) and reliable. I worked it on Caravans, the Citation Mustang, and as the Prodigy system on Embraer Phenom 100 and 300 aircraft. I WAS G1000 certified for the repair station I was working at the time. I like the integrated diagnostics, as I can dial up a page and observe an actuator or switch in action, and see what information is going into the data base. Makes LOTS of troubleshooting a 3-5 minute job that I could spend 2 hours just getting access for. Well worth the money. For innovations of the last 30-40 years, I think it's incredible. I'm good with fly by wire and brake by wire, but I don't know if I'm all that sold on fast track certifications with computer simulations and such taking the place of aggressive test flight schedules working the bugs out. The Phenom 100 had 2 relatively silly issues that caused the runoff above, and 2 others I personally recovered. They are fixed up now, and I really like the aircraft, but those things (both models) were pushing every technology available up into the cutting edge, and teething and serviceability problems emerged nobody knew what to do with. I trust fly by wire, as long as it has well thought out redundancy. As much as I admire Burt Rutan and all of his accomplishments, I'm still not sold on composite primary structure and skins for large pressurized aircraft, and with the global sourcing issues that have come up, it frankly scares me. I'm speaking directly to the wing delamination issue with the Cessna LSA, but I have other grievances with it from direct experience as well.
The main campus of the super collider is "reported" to be the only substantial structure that remains, but the service tunnel entrance area has been "sealed" IE fenced off with razor wire, for a few years now. Nothing to see there, I'm sure. A private chemical company called MagnaBlend has purchased the main campus building from the county, which the federal government surrendered the property to about 6 years ago. Magnablend is a local company that mixes materials and makes industrial chemicals and chemical fertilizers. They are a good source of employment to the county, but have not been without their problems. About 3 years ago, their entire 33 acre facility burned after something went wrong with a mix. I have a few pics of that from my phone. Burned for 2 days and took nearly 8 months for the enviro cleanup. Pics of the fire, and the main campus building, which was extensively falling apart inside from nearly 2 decades of not being occupied. What a HUGE waste of our money. They should have finished it. The Large Hadron collider is backed up 6 years for experiments.

 

[haxto]

Well, having gone through the RVSM thing 10 years or so ago with a bunch of old ratty steam gauge having monsters and having to rebuild entire panels to get the more accurate altimeters in, and doing Autopilot STCs on some of those old things to get in compliance, I was pretty sick of old school!
As far as glass cockpit, I'm 100% Sold on the Garmin G1000 package. Intuitive, informative, expandable (EASILY) and reliable. I worked it on Caravans, the Citation Mustang, and as the Prodigy system on Embraer Phenom 100 and 300 aircraft. I WAS G1000 certified for the repair station I was working at the time. I like the integrated diagnostics, as I can dial up a page and observe an actuator or switch in action, and see what information is going into the data base. Makes LOTS of troubleshooting a 3-5 minute job that I could spend 2 hours just getting access for. Well worth the money. For innovations of the last 30-40 years, I think it's incredible. I'm good with fly by wire and brake by wire, but I don't know if I'm all that sold on fast track certifications with computer simulations and such taking the place of aggressive test flight schedules working the bugs out. The Phenom 100 had 2 relatively silly issues that caused the runoff above, and 2 others I personally recovered. They are fixed up now, and I really like the aircraft, but those things (both models) were pushing every technology available up into the cutting edge, and teething and serviceability problems emerged nobody knew what to do with. I trust fly by wire, as long as it has well thought out redundancy. As much as I admire Burt Rutan and all of his accomplishments, I'm still not sold on composite primary structure and skins for large pressurized aircraft, and with the global sourcing issues that have come up, it frankly scares me. I'm speaking directly to the wing delamination issue with the Cessna LSA, but I have other grievances with it from direct experience as well.
The main campus of the super collider is "reported" to be the only substantial structure that remains, but the service tunnel entrance area has been "sealed" IE fenced off with razor wire, for a few years now. Nothing to see there, I'm sure. A private chemical company called MagnaBlend has purchased the main campus building from the county, which the federal government surrendered the property to about 6 years ago. Magnablend is a local company that mixes materials and makes industrial chemicals and chemical fertilizers. They are a good source of employment to the county, but have not been without their problems. About 3 years ago, their entire 33 acre facility burned after something went wrong with a mix. I have a few pics of that from my phone. Burned for 2 days and took nearly 8 months for the enviro cleanup. Pics of the fire, and the main campus building, which was extensively falling apart inside from nearly 2 decades of not being occupied. What a HUGE waste of our money. They should have finished it. The Large Hadron collider is backed up 6 years for experiments.

What do you mean by saying that the Large Hadron Collider is backed up 6 years? Are you saying Hadron is backed up, and that's a shame that there's not enough facilities to keep up with experiments, therefore this one should have been completed? Yea, that must be what your saying, if so, I fully agree. The one there in Wax was just a victim of politics and that really sucks. Nasa too. Is Hadron the one in Cern? Remember the simultainious waste back then of Comanche Peak Nuclear Facility? That was just straight up fraud.
While I firmly believe the US is the best thing goin on the planet, it frustrates me to see where Washington's priorites have gone and the trickery used to get people to, if not agree, at least not reject, whats happening. I mean, "SUPPORT OUR TROOPS" on the surface seems like, of coarse, that's a no-brainer! But it subliminally pulled in a ton of support for a VERY unpopular foreign policy.

 

[jd750ace]

Yes, we should have finished it. It is the one in Cern. In fact, there are many experiments that cannot be completed at Hadron because it is too small, and cannot achieve the particle velocities they calculate are needed to test certain theories. We waste billions upon billions supporting worthless slobs who won't work or even look for it, and unfortunately the "takers" are out-numbering the "makers" these days, and we are not likely to see any intelligent spending from our government for as far as the eye can see. If I'm professing to give away food, phones, medical care and housing, I'm gonna be a popular candidate with that crowd. If I spew my belief that every American is born naked and with the same opportunity for success if they want it, I'm a racist with no compassion and will be accused of being RICH!

 

[I am Carbon]

what You say jd is so true and so sad.