Monday, July 08, 2013

"Situational Awareness"

There were several qualified people on the flight deck of the Super-jumbo. The question is why was the crew unaware of their physical attitude of the jet. While the NTSB investigation will result in a report in a year from now, the question being pounded at by the American media and those that want to create controversy and political wedge issues is, "The pilots were incompetent and what do we do about it?"

No one knows that is the case. All the people on the flight deck were not incompetent. Something went wrong with their situational awareness. The question still remains where was the disconnect between the flight deck crew and their knowledge of the attitude of the plane?

..Here are the most relevant details as presented and described by Ms. Hersman: (click here)

Flight 214 was approaching Runway 28 Left with its landing gear down and wing flaps set at 30 degrees. The approach speed – the “target speed” or speed to which the aircraft was to slow – was 137 knots. There was no cockpit discussion of any concerns or anomalies.

At 7 seconds before impact, someone in the cockpit called for an increase in speed....

The tail is the highest part of the Super-jumbo Boeing 777. It was the part of that hit the sea wall. The rest of the jet was positioned higher than the tail. This jet was a 777-200ER with a total length of 209.08 ft (63.73 m). 

When the angle of attitude of the jet changes in the least amount at the point of the engines and wing flaps that translates into later angles at the nose and tail. A plane doesn't change angle at the nose, it changes it's angle of flight at the wings and flaps. 

It takes a long distance to begin to move the jet from runway to flight without hitting the tail on the ground. I just think the alarm to the flight deck crew caused an angle change of the approach that compromised the flight.

The question remains what caused the compromise of the situational awareness of the flight deck crew?