Airbus 380 incident

[MossRoad]

When the pilot of an aircraft with fly by wire move the controls all he is really doing is moving some potentiometers. Those potentiometers then tell the computers what the pilot wants the aircraft to do, the computers then send a signal to the various hydraulic actuators to make the flight control surfaces move. There is also another system called autoland in which not only allows the aircraft land its self but the brakes automatically are applied through an anti-skid system and there is an auto-steer system to keep the plane exactly on the runway centerline until its time to taxi off the runway.
There is a tremendous amount of redundancy built into these planes ( backup computers, hydraulic systems AC anc DC power supplies etc) and they are very safe.

I agree that they are safe. But they still scare the bajeebers out of me. Just like computer controlled stoplights that "cannot malfunction" yet many times you drive down the road and see them go bonkers for a few seconds.

How's that old saying go... $%^! happens! And at 35,000 feet and 3 or 4 hundred (or more) people on board, that's not the place for it to happen. All it takes is for one goose to cause an engine to toss a component that cuts through some signal cables and it is all over.

 

[RoyJackson]

Interesting story...

Does seem like Airbus has had more then it's share of incidents. Recall that flight (from Rio de Janeiro (IIRC) to Paris (again, IIRC) that disappeared a couple years ago? That was an Airbus too.

 

[V1Rotate]

I agree that they are safe. But they still scare the bajeebers out of me. Just like computer controlled stoplights that "cannot malfunction" yet many times you drive down the road and see them go bonkers for a few seconds.

How's that old saying go... $%^! happens! And at 35,000 feet and 3 or 4 hundred (or more) people on board, that's not the place for it to happen. All it takes is for one goose to cause an engine to toss a component that cuts through some signal cables and it is all over.

Your points are well taken. However, I would not want to go back to flying the old jets with just mechanical systems. Modern aircraft are much more reliable and therefore safer than the old planes. You are correct in saying that somtimes **** happens. And if it does, you can rest assured that the crew can handle just about anything. Remember capt. Sully and his crew landing the Airbus in the Hudson river after a double engine failure? Also, back in the 1980s capt Al Haynes and his crew were flying a DC-10 over Iowa and an explosion on the number two engine that took out all the hydraulic systems. This aircraft had no flight controls yet they managed to land and most of passengers survived

 

[jinman]

There is a tremendous amount of redundancy built into these planes ( backup computers, hydraulic systems AC anc DC power supplies etc) and they are very safe.

Exactly true, but I'm told by my retired AA pilot buddy that the darn Airbus aircraft don't give the pilot any control. They are over-automated. He says if it ain't Boeing, he ain't going.