Yet another Airbus crash.

[JustinR]

SOP with U.S. carriers after 9/11 is to have a flight attendant enter the cockpit when one pilot needs to use the lav. The remaining pilot must use their oxygen mask during this time above 25,000 feet. Outside the U.S., a flight attendant entering the cockpit during a lav break is not a universal practice.

That's about as much as I want to say for SSI reasons.

[Netpackrat]

Odd that I hadn't heard (or remembered hearing, anyway) that. Then again, the operation I work for is kind of unusual in many respects, and it isn't something that really pertains to my job.

[Netpackrat]

Found elsewhere. No idea if this is genuine or not:

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/ ... escent.jpg

[Termite]

SOP with U.S. carriers after 9/11 is to have a flight attendant enter the cockpit when one pilot needs to use the lav. The remaining pilot must use their oxygen mask during this time above 25,000 feet. Outside the U.S., a flight attendant entering the cockpit during a lav break is not a universal practice.

That's about as much as I want to say for SSI reasons.

Justin,
Have you applied for the armed pilot program yet? Or is that a "loose lips" issue? Or did BHOs "budget ax" cut the limited funds to the point where you couldn't even should you choose to?

[Termite]

Note to the non-pilots here:

This is what pilots call "controlled flight into terrain". In this case, apparently deliberate. Note that the rate of descent(about 4000fpm) was NOT so high as to be alarming to the passengers, until the last few moments, when I surmise they could see the Alps.

Only the PIC locked out of the flight deck, and perhaps the flight attendants, realised the issue.

[JustinR]

Justin,
Have you applied for the armed pilot program yet? Or is that a "loose lips" issue? Or did BHOs "budget ax" cut the limited funds to the point where you couldn't even should you choose to?

No comment.

BHO keeps cutting funds for the program in his budget request every year, and congress keeps re-instating it.

[Rumpshot]

Now it sounds like I was still actively working in the tower at Goodyear when he went through flight training in 2008. I actually met very few of the students that went through Airline Training Center Arizona, but did meet some. Without a doubt, I issued landing and takeoff instructions to him...

[Catbird]

This is what pilots call "controlled flight into terrain". In this case, apparently deliberate. Note that the rate of descent(about 4000fpm) was NOT so high as to be alarming to the passengers, until the last few moments, when I surmise they could see the Alps.

Controlled flight into terrain generally refers to unintentionally flying into the ground. A common cause is an inexperienced pilot flying into IFR conditions and entering a "death spiral."

Only the PIC locked out of the flight deck, and perhaps the flight attendants, realised the issue.

I calculated an angle of decent of about 4 1/3 degrees. That is based on an airspeed of 600 mph and a decent rate of 4000 feet/min. An experienced air traveler might notice this along with the ear popping from the pressure change due to the rapid decent.

A less experienced traveler might be alarmed by the Captain yelling and trying to break down the cockpit door.

[JustinR]

An idle descent at Vmo/Mmo in the EMB-145 will give you a rate of a little over 3,000 feet per minute. We do it for fuel savings, but some don't like to do it because the deck angle may be disconcerning to some passengers. If you gradually transition to that kind of descent rate, most people won't notice or be bothered.

[Termite]

Controlled flight into terrain generally refers to unintentionally flying into the ground. A common cause is an inexperienced pilot flying into IFR conditions....."

True. Except in this case it was apparently deliberate.

An idle descent at Vmo/Mmo in the EMB-145 will give you a rate of a little over 3,000 feet per minute............ If you gradually transition to that kind of descent rate, most people won't notice or be bothered.

Exactly. I suspect that's what Mr. "Goodbye CruelWorld*, I'm taking the plane with me" did.

*He was a German national. My questions would be:
#1. Native born, or naturalized?
#2. Religious preference, and perhaps ethnicity.