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Auto-GCAS started pulling out at 8,760 feet ASL and bottomed out at a hair under 3,000ft AGL (Judging by the Radar altimeter). It looks like the pilot start pu
by rurounijones 10y ago
Auto-GCAS started pulling out at 8,760 feet ASL and bottomed out at a hair under 3,000ft AGL (Judging by the Radar altimeter).
It looks like the pilot start pulling back on the stick at about 6,690ft ASL (Based on the G-Meter going above 5Gs). If the pilot had woken up at that point and immediately pulled back then the AGL clearance drops to about 1,100ft AGL.
Then we have to consider the fact that the plane was already pulling up when the pilot yanked back on the stick. Had the Auto-GCAS not already been pulling the plane up then the pilot would have been lower when he started the recovery.
The "At this point" in the article is not well worded because "At this point" actually looks to be a second or so after Auto-GCAS activated which, when plummeting towards the ground at 650 knots in a 55 degree dive. is basically another 500'ish feet lost
All in all this implies HEAVILY that even if the pilot recovered without Auto-GCAS the margin between survival and lawn-darting would have been a LOT less than 1000ft which is far too close for comfort.
- bemmu 10y agoTo me it's impressive how fast he still responds after losing consciousness. If you've ever fainted, there's this period where you don't know where you are or even WHO you are, let alone being able to fly a plane.
- kbart 10y agoTrue, but that's what reflexes are for.
- dtparr 10y agoIt's probably fortunate that the GCAS had already rolled him back, otherwise the reflex to "pull up" would have been disastrous.
- gcp 10y agoWould it have overruled the pilot input if that would have been the case?
- AstralStorm 10y agoNo, this system only countermands order to fly into ground, not other high G manoeuvres. The 9 G would probably end up snapping wings or in an uncontrolled roll.
- trentnelson 10y agoF-16s are G-limited to 9G. You can happily pull 9G day in, day out. The actual G loading the plane is certified for would be much, much higher than this (probably at least double).
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- rurounijones 10y agoAddendum to my previous comment: As someone else pointed out the GCAS had already rolled him right-side up as well. Without that he would have taken an extra second or two to reorient himself and take appropriate action. That delay, plus what I wrote above would make it a certainty in my mind that he would have had an unscheduled plane to ground rendezvous without the Auto-GCAS.