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Interesting Baader-Meinhof phenomenon here: I went down a Wikipedia rabbit hole just yesterday of aviation accidents involving depressurization and subsequent i

by mgdlbp 5y ago

Interesting Baader-Meinhof phenomenon here: I went down a Wikipedia rabbit hole just yesterday of aviation accidents involving depressurization and subsequent incapacitation of (virtually) everyone on board. In each of the three cases I read[0], while the aircraft remained airborne for 1-5 hours after losing its pilot(s), other aircraft sent to intercept could only observe in vain as the autopilot proceeded obliviously towards the inevitable: each of the three ran out of fuel before crashing and killing all on board. This had me wondering several things (as a layman), notably: did the use of autopilot make for certain doom in these cases, as possibly an aircraft without might have entered a state of descent allowing its occupants to regain consciousness; and, what avionic solutions could aid in this type of accident, which seems inevitable given the rapid cognitive toll of hypoxia? A vigilance switch for the autopilot to remain engaged (on some aircraft currently but uncommon)? Controlled descent by the autopilot when fuel is depleted? And especially, remote piloting by instruments, which seems invaluable in a variety of related emergencies? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522 and the two linked in '#See also'

sokoloff 5y ago
Cirrus has a Hypoxia recognition and recovery system: https://www.avweb.com/air-shows-events/cirrus-adds-hypoxia-recognition/ https://www.avweb.com/air-shows-events/cirrus-adds-hypoxia-r... Absent such a system, the autopilot probably didn't doom the occupants any more than no autopilot would have. It's extraordinarily unlikely that an uncommanded and uncontrolled descent from FL280 or higher (28K feet) would level off at an altitude above the ground but below around 15K feet to allow the crew to recover the airplane. (For one, a wing would probably roll off at some point in the process, leading to a spiral, but even with a wing-leveler, it's not likely the plane would be trimmed to descend and if it did, it would be unlikely to level off above terrain for long enough.)
United857 5y ago
There are now systems which can find the nearest suitable airport and autoland the plane, for example https://skiesmag.com/features/virtual-co-pilot-garmin-autoland/ https://skiesmag.com/features/virtual-co-pilot-garmin-autola...

by mgdlbp 5y ago

sokoloff 5y ago

Cirrus has a Hypoxia recognition and recovery system: https://www.avweb.com/air-shows-events/cirrus-adds-hypoxia-recognition/ https://www.avweb.com/air-shows-events/cirrus-adds-hypoxia-r... Absent such a system, the autopilot probably didn't doom the occupants any more than no autopilot would have. It's extraordinarily unlikely that an uncommanded and uncontrolled descent from FL280 or higher (28K feet) would level off at an altitude above the ground but below around 15K feet to allow the crew to recover the airplane. (For one, a wing would probably roll off at some point in the process, leading to a spiral, but even with a wing-leveler, it's not likely the plane would be trimmed to descend and if it did, it would be unlikely to level off above terrain for long enough.)

United857 5y ago

There are now systems which can find the nearest suitable airport and autoland the plane, for example https://skiesmag.com/features/virtual-co-pilot-garmin-autoland/ https://skiesmag.com/features/virtual-co-pilot-garmin-autola...