Article

2012-08-09 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Alaska Airlines 737 Emergency Landing "Catastrophic Electrical Failure"

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Posted by crosspatch 2012-08-09 00:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 Hope this is not a taste of things to come as the 787's ECS ( Environmental Control System) including the pressurization is electrically powered, as opposed to running off engine bleed air.

Posted by USN, ret. 2012-08-09 00:50|| 2012-08-09 00:50|| Front Page Top

#2 737-400 is as bog-standard and reliable as they come. I can only see incompetent maintenance - probably due to incompetent management - as the cause here.

Posted by gromky 2012-08-09 07:03|| 2012-08-09 07:03|| Front Page Top

#3 The thing that really makes ME nervous about getting aboard a 787 is the really wide use of composites in the airframe. Okay, okay, I know that modern composite materials are supposed to be stronger than metal, but I just can't shake the feeling that plastic airplanes belong on my 5 y/o great-nephew's bookshelf - not 35K feet in the air.

Posted by Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2012-08-09 09:59|| 2012-08-09 09:59|| Front Page Top

#4 Hopefully the good folks at NTSB are getting themselves spooled up for a comprehensive investigation on this one. Alaska's already proven its willingness to risk passengers' lives to save a buck.

Posted by Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2012-08-09 10:03|| 2012-08-09 10:03|| Front Page Top

#5 C'mon you guys. Where's that Amerlia Earheart spirit today??? Any landing ... is a good landing! RIGHT?!!

Posted by Raider 2012-08-09 10:22|| 2012-08-09 10:22|| Front Page Top

#6 You are pretty much guaranteed to land. The important questions are:
1) can you walk away?
2) is the airplane still usable?

I find USN's comment in #1 a little disturbing. Fly-by-wire is cool as long as you have juice for the wires, and your sensors aren't lying to you.

Posted by SteveS 2012-08-09 12:39|| 2012-08-09 12:39|| Front Page Top

#7 Put me in the camp that is actually more comfortable with composites than metal. They *should* stand up better to vibration and pressurization cycles than metal does.

I do have a problem with all-electric designs. There should be at least ONE mechanical backup system even if you have redundant fly-by-wire systems. So rather than having three independent mechanical hydraulic systems, have only one that is the emergency backup and have two fly by wire systems for normal use. Not having redundant mechanical systems still saves a lot of weight.

Posted by crosspatch 2012-08-09 13:02|| 2012-08-09 13:02|| Front Page Top

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