MIE460 Case Study 8 Complete Spring 2017 PDF

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MIE460 Case Study 8 Complete Spring 2017...

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3/21/2017 Case Study 8: Leap of Faith O June 26th, 1989, Captain Michel Asseline was planned to pilot the brand new Airbus A320 for the air show at Mulhouse Habsheim in France. He was supposed to conduct a low-level pass over the runway at the aerodrome about ten nautical miles away with his First Officer Maziers. This was to showcase the capabilities of the aircraft and the low-speed, low-altitude flyover. Two off-duty air hostesses joined them in the cockpit for the journey. As the passengers slowly boarded the flight, he conducted his pre-flight checks along with his co-pilot. They were going to descend to 100 feet above the runway and then execute a climbing turn and return to the aerodrome for a second pass from the opposite direction. The captain was very confident in the A320 because of its flight control system which feeds information to five computers where the information is analyzed and cross-referenced with the parameters and only then sent to the wings and engines. This was a revolutionary “flight protection” technology. Before taking the plane down the runway, the captain disengaged the autothrottle and the alpha floor function for the purpose of the demonstration. The autothrottle maintained a specific speed regardless of the position of the plane and the alpha floor function kept the plane from stalling during approaches and takeoffs due to any reason. After takeoff, the captain headed toward the aerodrome which was difficult to see because trees covered most of the terrain and they were flying at a low altitude. When he finally located it, he slowed down his speed headed towards the runway and executed the 100 feet pass. As this happened, their air speed continued to fall rapidly and when they had to pull up for the second pass, he pushed the throttles to full thrust. However, they weren’t picking up speed as the engine turbines were spinning slowly and not providing the required thrust. As the turbines slowly picked up, the plane’s underside hit the tops of the trees at the end of the runway and the plane crashed into the trees and thousands of gallons of jet fuel sprayed through the air and exploded into flames in moments. Fuel was entering the cabin and the flames were beginning to come up through the aisle. One of the off-duty air hostesses and the purser pushed on the door which was not burning yet. It opened suddenly and they both fell out onto the broken trees and bushes. The evacuation slide then enfolded and panicking passengers rushed forward to get out. Meanwhile a flight attendant and a passenger cleared the branches and helped the passengers disembark safely. More passengers, some on fire rushed forward and exited the flight while one handicapped boy and a girl who couldn’t get free of her seatbelt were stuck inside the plane and were found dead later. The main cause of this tragedy was the captain and the crew who weren’t organized enough and hadn’t planned out every step perfectly. The coordination between the pilots was lacking and resulted in the flight parameters not being established before the flight. The crew also did not take this flight seriously which had dire consequences. The flight protection system of the A320 which was supposed to increase the safety of the aircraft also led to the accident. The pilots were overconfident and were lulled into a false sense of security without realizing that their performance with that plane was in large part due to the presence of the flight protection system. The organizers could have better prepared the show and conducted multiple trial runs beforehand to make sure there were no surprises which could endanger the people on the aircraft. The organization could be better and the people who planned it could have taken the extra time necessary to double check the possible scenarios that could take place. Airbus Industries could also have recognized that the new flight protection system tricked the pilots into obtaining a false sense of security and become overconfident and develop a training strategy for that

scenario. The alpha floor protection system could also be modified to prevent descents without sufficient thrust to prevent disasters like this one from ever happening....