Alternate static on "big iron"?

Last night on Discovery Channel there was a story of a Peruvian 757 that
went down because the two static ports had been taped over for cleaning and
not removed. As you might imagine, the airspeed indicator and altimeter gave
erroneous readings and fed the onboard computers erroneous data; after a
series of bizarre warning messages (zero airspeed and "over speed warning"
from the computer) the pilots attempted to correct for contradictory
information and multiple warnings and the plane crashed into the ocean

Do modern airliners not have an alternate static source as on my 172?

Marc

Marc Lattoni wrote:

Last night on Discovery Channel there was a story of a Peruvian 757 that
went down because the two static ports had been taped over for cleaning and
not removed. As you might imagine, the airspeed indicator and altimeter gave
erroneous readings and fed the onboard computers erroneous data; after a
series of bizarre warning messages (zero airspeed and "over speed warning"
from the computer) the pilots attempted to correct for contradictory
information and multiple warnings and the plane crashed into the ocean

I do not know the answer to your question, but an important point about
this crash is that the aircraft was completely flyable and should never
have gone down.

What caused the aircraft to crash was the fact that both pilots were so
distracted attempting to troubleshoot the problem that neither paid any
attention to flying the aircraft. I couldn't tell from your synopsis if
you were aware that the availability of alternate air was most likely
irrelevant to the outcome of this unfortunate accident.

--
Peter

Why did they even take off? Isn't airspeed a required call-out and part of
the operating rules for all carriers?

"Marc Lattoni" wrote in message
news:c3%hc.1386$2q2.192@edtnps84...
Last night on Discovery Channel there was a story of a Peruvian 757 that
went down because the two static ports had been taped over for cleaning
and
not removed. As you might imagine, the airspeed indicator and altimeter
gave
erroneous readings and fed the onboard computers erroneous data; after a
series of bizarre warning messages (zero airspeed and "over speed warning"
from the computer) the pilots attempted to correct for contradictory
information and multiple warnings and the plane crashed into the ocean

Do modern airliners not have an alternate static source as on my 172?

Marc

"Brad Z" wrote in message Why did they even take off? Isn't airspeed a
required call-out and part of the operating rules for all carriers?

The pitot tube was NOT taped over, only the static ports. The runway at
Puerta Plata is fairly level, not much slope. Would the airspeed operate
normally until the altitude changed, which would be after rotation?

D.

Woops, I had pitot on my mind!

"Capt.Doug" wrote in message
news
"Brad Z" wrote in message Why did they even take off? Isn't airspeed a
required call-out and part of the operating rules for all carriers?

The pitot tube was NOT taped over, only the static ports. The runway at
Puerta Plata is fairly level, not much slope. Would the airspeed operate
normally until the altitude changed, which would be after rotation?

D.

Brad Z wrote:
Why did they even take off? Isn't airspeed a required call-out and part
of
the operating rules for all carriers?

ASI works just fine on takeoff is the static ports are blocked.

Hilton

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 at 02:55:09 in message
hA%hc.5284$0u6.1143009@attbi_s03, Brad Z wrote:

Why did they even take off? Isn't airspeed a required call-out and part of
the operating rules for all carriers?

Because the airspeed read almost normal until they started to climb I
believe.
--
David CL Francis

"Marc Lattoni" wrote in message Do modern airliners not have an
alternate static source as on my 172?

The MD-80 does have an alternate static source for each side. It is a
checklist item. However, the crew was distracted at a busy time. Switching
to alternate static probably wouldn't come to mind very quickly.

D.

"Capt.Doug" wrote in message ...
"Marc Lattoni" wrote in message Do modern airliners not have an
alternate static source as on my 172?

The MD-80 does have an alternate static source for each side. It is a
checklist item. However, the crew was distracted at a busy time. Switching
to alternate static probably wouldn't come to mind very quickly.

D.

Where is the alternate static port vented? It can't be vented to the
cockpit in a pressurized aircraft, no?

"Andrew Sarangan" wrote in message Where is the alternate static port
vented? It can't be vented to the cockpit in a pressurized aircraft, no?

The alternate static port is inches away from the primary static port. Now
that you mention it, if one was taped over, the other would likely be taped
over also.
D.