Question About Mid-Air Collisions

Edward A. Falk wrote:
In article ,
wrote:
jason219 wrote:

[hypothetical scenario:]

The plane is still airborne but is only able to fly higher
and to the right. All attempts to make a left turn or decrease altitude
have failed.

Look to the Sioux City crash of 1989. Circumstances were very similar.
Pilot could only control altitude and direction by playing with the
throttles. It was a miracle he could bring it to the runway at all,
and nobody's ever been able to repeat it in a simulator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_232


This can not happen.

If you reduce or eliminate engine power, the airplane will come down.

Never say never. Although I agree that it's extremely unlikely, I
can imagine an aft-of-cg situation where reducing power would cause
an unrecoverable stall. With a combination of aft-of-cg situation
and loss of elevator control, I could imagine that the only stable
configuration would be a climb.

Yeah, but no matter what there has never been an airplane that got stuck
in the air, they all have to come down sometime.

I need some expert knowledge on what would happen in this situation.
Judging by the damage, is it possible to land the plane safely? Is an
emergency landing feasible? If so, what would the steps necessary be to
execute it and how long (roughly) would that take?

If the plane can only climb, then that's all she wrote.

As in the elevator is stuck up, and stuck up enough, yep.

If it can only turn to the right, your best bet would probably be ditching
in the ocean or a large lake, but I wouldn't give good odds on surviving
either of those scenarios without full control of the plane.

If the lane can turn right *or* go straight, then you might have a chance.

Anyway, read up on the Sioux City crash, I think your scenario is based
on it, and you can see what actual experts did.

If nothing can control the aircraft heading, about all you can do is reduce
power, spiral down, and hope where the airplane touches the ground is
open and flat.

Agreed.


--
Jim Pennino

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