Aircraft

[xoxoxoBruce]

Send the AWACS out to choose who we'll kill tomorrow.

[xoxoxoBruce]

This family was 5 miles from Aspen, CO when the instruments went crazy and it appeared the engine would quit.
He had to make a split second decision and chose to pull the chute on the Cirrus airplane while he was still
high enough for it to work. The plane ended up in waist deep snow with the chute snagged on a tree which kept
then from sliding down the slope. No one hurt and rescued by the next day as rescue crews snowshoed in.
Took them 3 hours to shoeshoe out.

The plane and chute system from Cirrus Aircraft, Duluth, MN.
Parent organization: Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC)

[Clodfobble]

Wow--I've never seen a parachute on a plane, before. I guess it does make more sense than properly training everyone who gets on how to use a personal chute.

[xoxoxoBruce]

It was first certified in a Cessna in 1998.

As of 18 December 2018, CAPS has been activated 98 times, 83 of which saw successful parachute deployment. In those successful deployments, there were 170 survivors and 1 fatality. No fatalities have occurred when the parachute was deployed within the certified speed and altitude parameters, and only one anomalous unsuccessful deployment has ever occurred within those parameters. Some additional deployments have been reported by accident, as caused by ground impact or post-impact fires, and 19 of the aircraft involved in CAPS deployments have been repaired and put back into service.[20]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrus...rachute_System

[Carruthers]

Taken during Storm Dennis, Saturday last...



Foreshortening of distance due to telephoto lense effect and camera angle probably conspire to make this look worse than it was.

That said it was 'interesting'.

[xoxoxoBruce]

That's what happens in strong winds, the trick is keeping the wings level. If the wings don't touch first it should be OK even at obscene angles of approach. It helps that the passengers can't see out the windshield.

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

That's what happens in strong winds, the trick is keeping the wings level. If the wings don't touch first it should be OK even at obscene angles of approach. It helps that the passengers can't see out the windshield.

I believe that the C-5 Galaxy landing gear aligns itself with the extended centre line of the runway so even if the aircraft is crabbing down the approach the wheels will still point in the right direction, within certain limits, no doubt.
I stand to be corrected but I think that the B-52 has a similar capability.

My own attempts at crosswind landings were rarely a thing of beauty.
Being a cautious soul I tended to kick off the drift too early, but on days when I wasn't I'd kick it off too late.
Occasionally I got it right but it tended to be more by good luck than good management.

[Diaphone Jim]

That put some strain on the gear and wear on the tires!
I saw a Dennis landing yesterday with incredible wing flexing.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I wasn't aware the B-52 could do that so I checked and it can, 20 degrees left or right. Then checked to see how far a C-5 could turn and it was also 20 degrees.
But I found on airlinersdotnet a discussion claiming The C-5A had this feature, the C-5B did not, then it was removed from all the C-5As. The reasons given were maintenance issues, complexity and improved landing techniques. Sounds like military bullshit to me.

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I wasn't aware the B-52 could do that so I checked and it can, 20 degrees left or right. Then checked to see how far a C-5 could turn and it was also 20 degrees.
But I found on airlinersdotnet a discussion claiming The C-5A had this feature, the C-5B did not, then it was removed from all the C-5As. The reasons given were maintenance issues, complexity and improved landing techniques. Sounds like military bullshit to me.

That probably means that they just lowered the crosswind landing limits.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yeah, the cross wind is too strong so just keep flying around until you run out of fuel and crash into the children's hospital, grammar school, and SPCA.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

...until you run out of fuel and crash into the children's hospital...

Well, the ambulance will get there quicker...

[Diaphone Jim]

Where there is enough room, crossed runways partially solve crosswind problems.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Right, most of international/commercial airports have runways in two orientations. Some even have three where, like you said, they have room, and the winds are capricious.

[xoxoxoBruce]

An image search gives me, "Handley Page HP42 Western, G-AAXC, named 'Heracles', owned by Imperial Airways, at Croydon Airport near London in 1936."