4 ms·

>As a for instance, what happens if a dual flameout in flight occurs? Does the Ram Air Turbine make enough power to run the Flight Control Computer and all it's

>As a for instance, what happens if a dual flameout in flight occurs? Does the Ram Air Turbine make enough power to run the Flight Control Computer and all it's dependencies to ensure the MCAS functionality stays intact until the plane can be safely touched down? Isn't MCAS a solution to address greater nose pitch-up due to stronger thrust vectoring effects from the new engines? In a dual engine flameout where all thrust is lost, doesn't thrust vectoring cease to be an issue?

salawat 7y ago
It's not actually the thrust MCAS counters; that is counterable by elevator alone. MCAS counters extra lift generated by the nacelles shape and position at high Angle of Attack. No thrust is required to reproduce the aerodynamic effects MCAS is intended to counter. That's why this damn kludge of a system is so concerning. It's an active airworthyness hack to counter a passive aerodynamic characteristic of the airframe. So if a double flameout occurs, killing all power, and killing the Flight Control Computer due to unreliable voltage being supplied from the Ram Air Turbine, the pilots are stuck flying a glider that'll try to pitch into a stall on them if they aren't careful. Again, normally wouldn't worry about something like this, but they missed/intentionally left out the single AoA sensor... So...yeah... I have severe concerns about this design, and the effort put into known, unlikely, but highly severe failures.
- t0mas88 7y ago
  > So if a double flameout occurs, killing all power, and killing the Flight Control Computer due to unreliable voltage being supplied from the Ram Air Turbine, the pilots are stuck flying a glider that'll try to pitch into a stall on them if they aren't careful. Maybe you shouldn't post such strong statements about a technology you know very little about. First: The 737 does not actually have a RAT. Second: On types that have a RAT (e.g. the A320) it isn't electrical, it provides hydraulic power to operate the flight controls. If you need emergency electrical power from a RAT equipped aircraft it will be from an haudraulically driven AC generator through a constant speed drive. It will not have voltage fluctuations, only risk is frequency being off and aircraft systems are designed to deal with that.

salawat 7y ago

It's not actually the thrust MCAS counters; that is counterable by elevator alone. MCAS counters extra lift generated by the nacelles shape and position at high Angle of Attack. No thrust is required to reproduce the aerodynamic effects MCAS is intended to counter. That's why this damn kludge of a system is so concerning. It's an active airworthyness hack to counter a passive aerodynamic characteristic of the airframe. So if a double flameout occurs, killing all power, and killing the Flight Control Computer due to unreliable voltage being supplied from the Ram Air Turbine, the pilots are stuck flying a glider that'll try to pitch into a stall on them if they aren't careful. Again, normally wouldn't worry about something like this, but they missed/intentionally left out the single AoA sensor... So...yeah... I have severe concerns about this design, and the effort put into known, unlikely, but highly severe failures.

t0mas88 7y ago
> So if a double flameout occurs, killing all power, and killing the Flight Control Computer due to unreliable voltage being supplied from the Ram Air Turbine, the pilots are stuck flying a glider that'll try to pitch into a stall on them if they aren't careful. Maybe you shouldn't post such strong statements about a technology you know very little about. First: The 737 does not actually have a RAT. Second: On types that have a RAT (e.g. the A320) it isn't electrical, it provides hydraulic power to operate the flight controls. If you need emergency electrical power from a RAT equipped aircraft it will be from an haudraulically driven AC generator through a constant speed drive. It will not have voltage fluctuations, only risk is frequency being off and aircraft systems are designed to deal with that.