M2.2 VCL Peak Airlines 1680

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Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University *

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330

Subject

Mechanical Engineering

Date

Jan 9, 2024

Type

docx

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1

Uploaded by samroth787

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Consider the following when watching the video by using deductive and inductive logic: 1. What are the weather conditions during the approach to landing? 2. Does the flight profile seem normal? 3. Describe the many conditions the interviewed witness is explaining about the event. Let’s start with the weather conditions. Thunderstorms are present, and as can be expected with storms, the windspeed is 21 knots as given by air traffic control. Visibility deteriorates as the approach progresses, with heavy rain the root cause of reduced visibility on the ground – the runway visual range is only 3,000 ft, slightly more than half a mile. This, and the cloud obstructing the field from the pilots’ view, are why the pilot requests vectors for the instrument approach (ILS). Obviously, in heavy rain pilots should expect a wet runway, which means a longer landing roll. This is not the time to cling to an approach, whatever the reason. Additionally, the wind directions and speeds change markedly in the few minutes of the approach. This indicates wind shear is present or possible. The cloud obstructing the field only enforces this possibility. Further, the wind speed at one point reaches 45-knot gusts coming from 50 degrees off the runway centerline (350 at 30G45). With the crosswind calculation, that would mean landing with a crosswind of up to 34 knots, a value that many passenger aircraft consider out of limits, yet the pilot repeats that value and continues the approach. The profile only proceeds normally up to the point where the pilot loses sight of the runway. At that moment, the pilot communicating is seemingly set on seeing the approach through and tells the pilot flying to stay on course even though he cannot see the runway. The pilots note that they are off course. The ground proximity warning system continuously warns of the excessive sink rate, all the way to when the pilots say they are down. Excessive sink rates can be a result of not having enough power or coming in too fast and pitching the nose down to ‘make’ the landing – either way, the sink rate warning is completely ignored. Starting with the fact that the witness is an experienced pilot, they are expecting things to happen in a very particular manner. This experience appears to help identify key components, such as their position on the aircraft, how they identified the approach was long, or how they noticed when the aircraft felt like it was moving on or off the runway. They seem comfortable with the investigator, apparent by their suggestion to go by a nickname, and do not seem in shock or injured, indicating a relaxed psychological state and lending credence to their statement. The witness describes the initial approach and how they wanted to warn the pilots off, the plane drifting over the runway attempting to find the centerline, the aircraft sliding off the runway on the ground, going back onto the runway, and finally sliding off again.
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