Airbus A320 Down

Hits home, my daughter flew that route on Germanwings to see her brother in Düsseldorf a week ago...prayers to the families for their loss.
 
Apparently no 7700 squawk, but a distress call at 5000 feet. Weather in the area was fine. But there seemed to be a rapid descent prior. Or the news is wrong and they declared and then descended. I don't know why they would be at 5000 feet over the Alps by choice.
 
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Geico266 said:
No survivors are expected according to the French president.
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I wouldn't either in the terrain they went down in, that is brutally rugged terrain, not somewhere you might be able to slide in with something as big as an A-320. If it's to big to hang in trees, you're pretty much screwed for any gradual deceleration.
 
This is where the plane went down.

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AirLive.net
 
Turningfinal said:
Are you thinking decompression and a descent + CFIT?
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That's my guess, but I hesitate on calling it a full on CFIT, I think they may have took enough damage that he couldn't keep it aloft. He was probably in control, he was just out of altitude and options.
 
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PPC1052 said:
That was one of my first hypotheses. We shall see as we get more data. Seems like a mistake to descend to 5000 feet over the Alps, even with such an event.
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Is that the Alps there or Pyrenees? You can't always choose not to descend, somethimes Gravity just :rofl: at you.
 
Henning said:
You can't always choose not to descend, somethimes Gravity just :rofl: at you.
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Agreed. That's why I question the hypothesis that it was just decompression (CFIT). Something very well have taken the choice of more altitude away.
 
Any news on what the distress call was? Usually pilots give an account of what happened. :dunno:
 
PPC1052 said:
Agreed. That's why I question the hypothesis that it was just decompression (CFIT). Something very well have taken the choice of more altitude away.
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Decompression is an accompaniment to a structural failure typically. Structural failures can leave you with drag you can't out power, especially if the damage disabled an engine as well. We have lost planes due to cargo doors opening in flight.
 
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Geico266 said:
Any news on what the distress call was? Usually pilots give an account of what happened. :dunno:
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Here is one report.

During the flight the Airbus was in contact with air control at Marseilles. The message was “mayday, mayday,mayday” and the pilot requested an emergency descent meaning ATC had to clear all air space below the route of the aircraft. Apparently, an emergency descent generally happens at a rate of 5,000 feet a minute, but the Germanwings flight was descending at 3,375 feet a minutes.

Gerard Feltzer, an aviation expert told BFM TV that the plane was already extremely low when it issued its distress signal and he imagined the pilots had tried to deal with the emergency before issuing their message, at which point it appeared they had already lost control of the aircraft.
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Sad to hear.

Of course, CNN/MSNBC/Fox, et al are all over this like flies on **** and doing their usual parade of so-called "experts" to spend countless hours telling us what they don't know. :mad:
 
Henning said:
Decompression is an accompaniment to a structural failure typically. Structural failures can leave you with drag you can't out power, especially if the damage disabled an engine as well. We have lost planes due to cargo doors opening in flight.
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Understood. And I agree with your prior statement that it may not have been "entirely CFIT"; in other words, I agree that the pilots may not have had a choice of more altitude, for whatever reason.
 
PPC1052 said:
Understood. And I agree with your prior statement that it may not have been "entirely CFIT"; in other words, I agree that the pilots may not have had a choice of more altitude, for whatever reason.
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Although what is nagging at me is that little period of level flight right before loss of data. Constant speed and constant altitude. Looks like it lasts for about a minute. I don't know if that's just the smallest interval that can be displayed, if it's some measuring anomaly, or if that represents a real minute of constant speed/constant altitude flight. I certainly don't have sufficient information to make any conclusions.
 
PPC1052 said:
Although what is nagging at me is that little period of level flight right before loss of data. Constant speed and constant altitude. Looks like it lasts for about a minute. I don't know if that's just the smallest interval that can be displayed, if it's some measuring anomaly, or if that represents a real minute of constant speed/constant altitude flight. I certainly don't have sufficient information to make any conclusions.
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You can never trust those tracings for detail, they often have anomalies. We'll see what the FDR shows.
 
Just looking at my last months credit card statement for what I paid for that flight purchased 3 weeks out $81.60 or 75 Euros...just have to wonder if the Budget Airline is contributing...my kids fly all over Europe as its so much cheaper than the Train.

2/20/2015 02/22/2015 Sale CHANGES RESALE $60.40 No data
02/20/2015 02/22/2015 Sale GERMANWINGS F5GM3C_985251 $81.60 No data
02/https://cards.chase.com/cc/Account/Activity/465653519#20/2015 02/22/2015 Sale ACADEMY SPORTS #16 $24.32
 
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Warlock said:
Just looking at my last months credit card statement for what I paid for that flight purchased 3 weeks out $81.60 or 75 Euros...just have to wonder if the Budget Airline is contributing...my kids fly all over Europe as its so much cheaper than the Train.
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Gotta compete with Ryan Air, how much that has to do with this particular accident is an unknown. Since they are a subsidiary of Lufthansa, I would be surprised to see this be an issue of Gross Negligence.
 
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Warlock said:
Just looking at my last months credit card statement for what I paid for that flight purchased 3 weeks out $81.60 or 75 Euros...just have to wonder if the Budget Airline is contributing...my kids fly all over Europe as its so much cheaper than the Train.
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That's a cheap ticket but so is Southwest at times.
 
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Thanks...for the heads up!
 
German guy said:
Germanwing aircraft are maintained by Lufthansa: https://www.germanwings.com/en/4u/company/engineering-fleet.html

The only difference is that they use bolts from Home Depot... :eek: :D (This is supposed to be a joke)

Seriously - Germanwings is simply Lufthansa's shorter distance / lower service brand.
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The sad thing is while you joke, my last couple of visits to Germany have been disappointing in regards to the attitudes of the people on stuff like this. They are becoming very Americanized in both driving and business habits. The Autobahn is not the courteous place to drive fast it once was. People used to move out of your way, now they just pull out in front of you.
 
Is it me, or have more Airbus planes been falling out of the sky in the last five years than their Boeing counterparts?
 
nddons said:
Is it me, or have more Airbus planes been falling out of the sky in the last five years than their Boeing counterparts?
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:dunno: I haven't looked at any hard data, but my sense of it seems pretty even up, may actually have more Boeings considering the 3 777s last year that pop directly to mind (including the one shot down). Or were the Koreans the year before?

The amount of total losses is low enough that it's really kinda moot. There will always be a limited amount of failures in any human endeavor, and it seems to me that both companies fall well below the average rate of human failure.

Boeing is certainly not free from structural failure, typically induced by lack/failure of maintenance, either. More than 1 737 has unzipped the fuselage, and I suspect the same for the missing Malaysian 777.
 
Wow is right. Doesn't look line any indication of fire either.

It should be easy to find all the parts, and to see if any parts are missing that might have fallen off earlier.
 
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