United Airlines Flight 232

[Dalei]

I know this is a rather random topic, but I thiught it was interesting nevertheless...

United Airlines Flight 232 was a McDonnald Douglas DC-10 taking off from Denver on the way to Philidelphia with a stopover at Chicago. Flight captian is Alfred Haynes, along with Dennis Fitch, who is a DC-10 instructor flying as a passenger who offered his assistance. Flying over Iowa flying at 37,000 feet, the turbofan on engine #2 (tail engine) disinigrated and debris from the explosion servered all 3 of the hydraulic lines. Hydraulics are used to control aircraft surfaces such as the ailerons, rudder, and elevator. Without all 3, the aircraft is pretty much a paper airplane with engines. The pilots fight with the controls but realise all of the hydraulics have failed. Knowing this, the pilots fight with the engines and request air traffic controllers to steer them away from the city. After they line up with the runway, Alfred kept a light mood in the cockpit and when the controller cleared him to land on any runway, he laughed and said, "You wanna be specific and make it a runway?" In the final seconds, the DC-10 is pretty much dropping torward the runway at a very high speed. Keep in mind, flaps and brakes do not work because all of the hydraulics are out. There is a field at the end of the runway, but there is no need of it, because just before touchdown, the plane rolled to the right, striking it's wing into the ground and sending a burst of flames erupt as the plane tumbled down the runway, the front and rear of the plane falling to pieces. Of the 296 passengers and crew on board, 186 survived. The sole reason for a high number of survivors in conparison to the 111 that perished is the pilots skill of landing the useless aircraft as best as they could. Other factors may have been the quick response of emergency services. Today, both pilots and passangers that survived the crash have supported each other is various ways and lead to happy lives. Sadly, Dennis Flitch died at the age of 69 in 2012 after a long battle with brain cancer.


United 232 Heavy, you are cleared to land on any runway.
You wanna be specific and make it a runway?

Thank you for reading.

[Italian_Crafter]

You should read about the DHL a300 that was hit by a terrorist stinger in the left wing. They lost all their hydraulics too and landed safely back in bagdad... Watch the aci

[Holy_Moses]

Nerd! Doesnt the DC10 have a flybywire system incase of failure? I know KC10s have tthem for redundancy.

[Italian_Crafter]

Nerd! Doesnt the DC10 have a flybywire system incase of failure? I know KC10s have tthem for redundancy.

Aircraft with fly by wire still have the same hydraulic systems as aircraft with steel cable controls. FBW just delivers the message to the actuator/motor using electric signals to move the surface. I believe the redundancy you were talking about only takes over if the flight computer crashes or is damaged (making FBW very safe). To my knowledge fly by wire aircraft cannot part force like a push rod or cable could do to an airfoil or control surface. Every input from the autopilot or done manually by the pilot is backed by hydraulics... Unless its power by wire, which I know nothing about. If wanted you could still move the control surfaces without hydraulics, that is if you're strong enough. But with a plane such as the DC-10 its nearly impossible without hydraulic fluid. Also note the first passenger airplane with fly by wire was the A320 produced in the late 1980's or something, well after the DC-10.

Any who the DC-10 was a rushed design in order for Douglass Company to have the plane ready before the 747 and the L-1011. Which consequently resulted in a piece of shit with a lot of problems.

[Dalei]

Moses keep in mind the DC-10 went through several problems. Which led to the eventual ban of DC-10's used in commercial aviation.
No i do not think the DC-10 had FBW at tbe time. Although, I believe the DC-11 (the DC-10's direct brother) has a FBW system that triggers when the computers fail, like italian said.

[Italian_Crafter]

Moses keep in mind the DC-10 went through several problems. Which led to the eventual ban of DC-10's used in commercial aviation.
No i do not think the DC-10 had FBW at tbe time. Although, I believe the DC-11 (the DC-10's direct brother) has a FBW system that triggers when the computers fail, like italian said.

The DC-10 was not banned from commercial service. And the MD-11 is not even remotely fly-by-wire. A douglas aircraft without cables?!?!? You must be crazy lol

Edit: The system that takes over is called redundancy Dale. A plane is either FBW or its not there's no in between, especially for commercial jets. The flight computer tells the airfoils and the other control surfaces what to do based on inputs from either the pilot or the flight computer and are executed by electrical pulses or wires (hence fly by wire). If the flight computer fails another computer takes over for the faulty one.  They can either turn off or re-boot the faulty computers. If any flight-control computer whose results disagree with the others is ruled to be faulty it will be re-booted or turned off. Some airplanes have as much as 5 computers, it just depends. Basically when the main computer fails the airplane goes through checks and is out voted by the other computers for control... If that makes sense lol.

Also keep in mind that each manufacture has their own approaches with fly-by-wire. The difference between Boeing and airbus is drastic and hard to explain. But in a nut shell the pilots of a boeing aircraft  with FBW can completely override the flight computer if needed. You cant with airbus. Same with the military, they have their own versions that they tweaked for their own use most likely b/c of combat reasons. But just because an airplane is fly-by-wire that does not mean its not fly-by-cable (FBC). For instance all  airbus aircraft are notorious for being truly FBW. But in the event of multiple failures of redundant computers, the A320 does have a mechanical back-up system for its pitch trim and its rudder.... Aviation is very confusing. Unless you know the POH or FCOMS for an airplane you fly from cover to cover and studied for months on end you really cant say. If you take anything from this Just remember that everything in an airplane has a backup and a backup for its backup lol.

[Dalei]

Moses keep in mind the DC-10 went through several problems. Which led to the eventual ban of DC-10's used in commercial aviation.
No i do not think the DC-10 had FBW at tbe time. Although, I believe the DC-11 (the DC-10's direct brother) has a FBW system that triggers when the computers fail, like italian said.

The DC-10 was not banned from commercial service. And the MD-11 is not even remotely fly-by-wire. A douglas aircraft without cables?!?!? You must be crazy lol

Edit: The system that takes over is called redundancy Dale. A plane is either FBW or its not there's no in between, especially for commercial jets. The flight computer tells the airfoils and the other control surfaces what to do based on inputs from either the pilot or the flight computer and are executed by electrical pulses or wires (hence fly by wire). If the flight computer fails another computer takes over for the faulty one.  They can either turn off or re-boot the faulty computers. If any flight-control computer whose results disagree with the others is ruled to be faulty it will be re-booted or turned off. Some airplanes have as much as 5 computers, it just depends. Basically when the main computer fails the airplane goes through checks and is out voted by the other computers for control... If that makes sense lol.

Also keep in mind that each manufacture has their own approaches with fly-by-wire. The difference between Boeing and airbus is drastic and hard to explain. But in a nut shell the pilots of a boeing aircraft  with FBW can completely override the flight computer if needed. You cant with airbus. Same with the military, they have their own versions that they tweaked for their own use most likely b/c of combat reasons. But just because an airplane is fly-by-wire that does not mean its not fly-by-cable (FBC). For instance all  airbus aircraft are notorious for being truly FBW. But in the event of multiple failures of redundant computers, the A320 does have a mechanical back-up system for its pitch trim and its rudder.... Aviation is very confusing. Unless you know the POH or FCOMS for an airplane you fly from cover to cover and studied for months on end you really cant say. If you take anything from this Just remember that everything in an airplane has a backup and a backup for its backup lol.

Lol... I may have been wrong.
I did however read that the DC-10 was banned from commercial aviation at some point, I have no clue if that was later lifted. I do know that DC-10's are used in some cargo transports today

[Italian_Crafter]

Moses keep in mind the DC-10 went through several problems. Which led to the eventual ban of DC-10's used in commercial aviation.
No i do not think the DC-10 had FBW at tbe time. Although, I believe the DC-11 (the DC-10's direct brother) has a FBW system that triggers when the computers fail, like italian said.

The DC-10 was not banned from commercial service. And the MD-11 is not even remotely fly-by-wire. A douglas aircraft without cables?!?!? You must be crazy lol

Edit: The system that takes over is called redundancy Dale. A plane is either FBW or its not there's no in between, especially for commercial jets. The flight computer tells the airfoils and the other control surfaces what to do based on inputs from either the pilot or the flight computer and are executed by electrical pulses or wires (hence fly by wire). If the flight computer fails another computer takes over for the faulty one.  They can either turn off or re-boot the faulty computers. If any flight-control computer whose results disagree with the others is ruled to be faulty it will be re-booted or turned off. Some airplanes have as much as 5 computers, it just depends. Basically when the main computer fails the airplane goes through checks and is out voted by the other computers for control... If that makes sense lol.

Also keep in mind that each manufacture has their own approaches with fly-by-wire. The difference between Boeing and airbus is drastic and hard to explain. But in a nut shell the pilots of a boeing aircraft  with FBW can completely override the flight computer if needed. You cant with airbus. Same with the military, they have their own versions that they tweaked for their own use most likely b/c of combat reasons. But just because an airplane is fly-by-wire that does not mean its not fly-by-cable (FBC). For instance all  airbus aircraft are notorious for being truly FBW. But in the event of multiple failures of redundant computers, the A320 does have a mechanical back-up system for its pitch trim and its rudder.... Aviation is very confusing. Unless you know the POH or FCOMS for an airplane you fly from cover to cover and studied for months on end you really cant say. If you take anything from this Just remember that everything in an airplane has a backup and a backup for its backup lol.

Lol... I may have been wrong.
I did however read that the DC-10 was banned from commercial aviation at some point, I have no clue if that was later lifted. I do know that DC-10's are used in some cargo transports today

Yeah the DC-10 wasnt banned it was grounded. Often after major accidents the NTSB grounds the aircraft if its problem is universal or a design flaw. Airplanes such as the concorde or more recently the 787 are good examples.