Emergency at the Airport

[MarchHare]

Now reporting computer failure. Pilots had to take manual control of aircraft.

I wouldn't put too much faith into what the passangers are saying. Here's what likely happened:

Pilot on intercom (spoken with Chuck Yeager-esque drawl): "Hello there, folks. As you can tell, we just hit a severe patch of turbulance. As is normal when this happens, the auto-pilot disengaged itself and the first officer and I assumed manual control of the aircraft."

Panicked passanger: "ZOMG HE SAID THE AUTO-PILOT FAILED!!!!111"

[Indi]

Originally Posted by arsenal

I am not liking this. I have to fly to Germany next week, and I am am ok flier when it is nice and smooth. But even with a little bit of turbulence, I start to get a little sketchy.
Not to mention the whole 10 hour flight thing, that is not going to be fun.

It is an air canada flight as well.. but I think it is actually a Lufthansa plane that I am on. God I hate AC...

are you flying from calgary to Frankfurt? I fly that route 1x/month...its AC metal, but AC international is much better than AC domestic.
Its usually a very good flight, never encountered much in the way of turbulence

have a good trip

[arsenal]

Originally Posted by Indi

are you flying from calgary to Frankfurt? I fly that route 1x/month...its AC metal, but AC international is much better than AC domestic.
Its usually a very good flight, never encountered much in the way of turbulence

have a good trip

Yep, direct from Calgary to Frankfurt. Leave next friday at 5:20pm. Thanks for the words of encouragement .

Now I just have to find something to do for 10 hours.. hopefully there is a hot german girl sitting next to me..

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Kerplunk

Pretty much correct. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion until acted on by something else. In this case the people and the plane are moving in the same direction at the same speed. If the plane changes direction (goes down) and a person is not attached to it, the person will still be going the same direction and speed as before...until the top of the plane meets their head.

That makes no sense. The only think keeping you from accelerating towards the earth when flying is the force that the seat puts on your but and the floor puts on your feet. Remove the force from the seat and floor, and you fall at the same rate as any object (neglecting air resistance). Something must happen to pull the plane down, it can't be just falling. If it was just falling (say it stalls or something) you'd just fall with it. You don't fly off the seat of the drop of doom.

[MelBridgeman]

planes dont fall
if a plane ran out of fuel, it would float to the ground
if there is a wind gusts, and is strong enough to move any of the flight controls, like the elevator ..it means the plane is flying in that direction....or the controls were moved to cause the plane to descend rapidly

[J pold]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

planes dont fall
if a plane ran out of fuel, it would float to the ground

uh?

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by J pold

uh?

if a plane is at cruising altitude and it ran out of fuel, the plane would float to the ground, it would not come crashing down....if an airport is nearby, technically the plane could be landed...such as this case

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236

should of been more clear

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

planes dont fall
if a plane ran out of fuel, it would float to the ground
if there is a wind gusts, and is strong enough to move any of the flight controls, like the elevator ..it means the plane is flying in that direction....or the controls were moved to cause the plane to descend rapidly

That's not entirely true. Planes can very suddenly lose (or gain) altitude because of wind shear or clear air turbulance. The latter isn't much of an issue because it tends to only occur at relatively high altitude, giving the aircraft plenty of time to recover -- the only danger is to people who don't have their seatbelts fastened being thrown around the cabin. The former is very dangerous because it can occur when planes are on final approach. Many deadly crashes have been caused by wind shear.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

if a plane is at cruising altitude and it ran out of fuel, the plane would float to the ground, it would not come crashing down....if an airport is nearby, technically the plane could be landed...such as this case

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236

should of been more clear

I think you mean glide...

[Kipper is King]

Anyone see CNN's coverage of the flight? The commentator could not properly pronounce Alberta!

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

That makes no sense. The only think keeping you from accelerating towards the earth when flying is the force that the seat puts on your but and the floor puts on your feet. Remove the force from the seat and floor, and you fall at the same rate as any object (neglecting air resistance). Something must happen to pull the plane down, it can't be just falling. If it was just falling (say it stalls or something) you'd just fall with it. You don't fly off the seat of the drop of doom.

What keeps you standing on the floor of the plane? Gravity right?

If the plane suddenly has a downward acceleration greater than that of gravity your acceleration is still that of gravity and you go up relative to the plane right?

At least that's how I'd think of it.

[Kerplunk]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

That makes no sense. The only think keeping you from accelerating towards the earth when flying is the force that the seat puts on your but and the floor puts on your feet. Remove the force from the seat and floor, and you fall at the same rate as any object (neglecting air resistance). Something must happen to pull the plane down, it can't be just falling. If it was just falling (say it stalls or something) you'd just fall with it. You don't fly off the seat of the drop of doom.

Did I say that it was falling? I know I didn't make that assumption. I just said that if the plane changes direction then a person has the be strapped to it in order to go with it. If it was a free-fall then everything travels downward at 9.81 m/s/s, but still in the same 2D direction and speed. If the plane goes down faster than that (say forced by air), then the plane goes down faster than the person, since the person is only falling at the gravitational constant.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by J pold

uh?

An aircraft that runs out of fuel essentially becomes a glider. The wings still generate lift as air continues to flow over them. It's part of every pilot's training to learn how to safely land a plane that loses engine power (this is commonly referred to as a "deadstick landing").

A famous case of this happened in 1983. An Air Canada 767 was flying from Montreal to Edmonton when it ran out of fuel at about the half-way point of the flight. One of the pilots was a former Air Cadet who learned how to fly gliders as a teenager at the former air force base at Gimli, Manitoba, and he successfully landed the plane at the airport where he first learned how to fly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_glider

[Schultzie]

I don't think I'll ever get over my fear of flying. Between all of the crap that can happen to planes mechanically, as well as human error (I even remember hearing about two pilots who were allowed to fly their daily routes while drunk), I wouldn't think it's hard to see why.

[Schultzie]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

An aircraft that runs out of fuel essentially becomes a glider. The wings still generate lift as air continues to flow over them. It's part of every pilot's training to learn how to safely land a plane that loses engine power (this is commonly referred to as a "deadstick landing").

A famous case of this happened in 1983. An Air Canada 767 was flying Montreal to Edmonton when it ran out of fuel at about the half-way point of the flight. One of the pilots was a former Air Cadet who learned how to fly gliders as a teenager at the former air force base at Gimli, Manitoba, and he successfully landed the plane at the airport where he first learned how to fly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_glider

I think he was just confused when Mel said it would "float" (as in, remain in a stationary position in the air).

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by kermitology

What keeps you standing on the floor of the plane? Gravity right?

If the plane suddenly has a downward acceleration greater than that of gravity your acceleration is still that of gravity and you go up relative to the plane right?

At least that's how I'd think of it.

That's how I see it too. Unless the plane is falling faster than the rate of gravity (9.81m/s^2), then you will remain on the floor of that plane, albeit feeling a little lighter. When it falls (accellerates) faster than that of gravity, that's when your head gets introduced to the celing of the cabin.

[black rubber disc bunny]

Originally Posted by Schultzie

I don't think I'll ever get over my fear of flying. Between all of the crap that can happen to planes mechanically, as well as human error (I even remember hearing about two pilots who were allowed to fly their daily routes while drunk), I wouldn't think it's hard to see why.

This is one incident. How many successful flights do you think flew today or any other? You just don't hear about all of the successes only the failures (which are quite rare relatively speaking).

Isn't air travel still considered one of the safest? It is very strictly regulated.

[Schultzie]

Originally Posted by black rubber disc bunny

This is one incident. How many successful flights do you think flew today or any other? You just don't hear about all of the successes only the failures (which are quite rare relatively speaking).

Isn't air travel still considered one of the safest? It is very strictly regulated.

Haha, I know. Planes are still the safest mode of transportation. I think the odds of being in a crash (not necessarily fatal or major) are around 1:40,000. I'd have to double check on that, though.

It's an unjustifiable fear, but a fear none the less.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I think you mean glide...

yes

[MarchHare]

Isn't air travel still considered one of the safest? It is very strictly regulated.

Air travel is -- by far -- the safest form of transportion when measured in fatalities per person-kilometer.

If a plane crashes and 100 people die, the media makes a circus about it for weeks. On that same day, how many people do you think were killed in auto accidents?