United A319 lands safely after instruments became offline

[Denny Yen 0]

The A319's pilots navigated via land marks as instruments failed. Smoke filled cockpit as pilots landed on back up systems.

 

 

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1373486/Terror-skies-United-Airlines-plane-forced-land-blind-smoke-cockpit-total-instrument-failure.html

 

'Are you going to make it sir?': Hero United Airlines pilots land stricken plane 'blind' after instruments fail and cockpit fills with smoke

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Last updated at 2:14 PM on 5th April 2011

 

 

The pilots of a United Airlines flight were forced to land 'blind' when smoke began to fill the cockpit after a massive instrument failure.

 

Flight 497, with 109 passengers on board, ran into difficulties at 7am yesterday, only 20 minutes after taking off from New Orleans' Louis Armstrong airport.

 

Dramatic voice recordings of the pilot talking to air traffic controllers show how the ground crew had to guide the aircraft in via voice instruction as the pilots battled to steer the crippled plane home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CVR transcript

Pilot: 'United 497, we've lost all our instruments.'

 

Controller: 'United 497, just continue the left turn, I will tell you when to stop, sir.'

 

Pilot: 'We've got water contact.'

 

Controller: 'You going to make it sir?'

 

Pilot: 'Yes.'

[Gavin Andrew David 6]

Interesting how he ended up in the grass then if it was an instrument failure

[Pieter C. 5]

Interesting how he ended up in the grass then if it was an instrument failure

 

Denny,

 

IMHO it's an A320

 

Gavin,

 

Hydraulic failure ?

[Walter Sim 1]

In my opinion, think part of the procedure for smoke for most aircrafts if the smoke source cannot be determined is to use use as little electric as possible, means shedding a whole lot of computers and instruments. Only a few stuff is powered in this case the A320, probably displays on the captain's side and a few other stuff, powered by the RAT. The older A320s which i believe this is i think when gears go down, they will lose the RAT and revert to be powered by it's batteries, meaning they'll lose a few more stuff. For landing they only have partial flaps, standby brakes, no reversers, no nosewheel steering, no antiskid, no full ground spoilers and the fact that its a 4 hour ride to SFO means they're very very heavy, an overweight landing on a short runway, with degraded brakes, no reversers, no full ground spoilers.

 

I feel that the crew did a good job bringing the plane down as soon as possible, smoke is something you don't want to have for long especially if they say they're flying in clouds. Remember the Swiss Air crash in Peggy's Cove, and the UPS 747 crash in DXB.

Edited April 5, 2011 by Walter Sim

[Denny Yen 0]

Denny,

 

IMHO it's an A320

Thanks for correction. It should be A320

 

Accident: United Airlines A320 at New Orleans on Apr 4th 2011, smoke in cockpit, complete electronic failure, runway excursion, evacuation

 

By Simon Hradecky, created Monday, Apr 4th 2011 14:15Z, last updated Monday, Apr 4th 2011 22:10Z

 

A United Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration N409UA performing flight UA-497 from New Orleans,LA to San Francisco,CA (USA) with 109 people on board, was in the initial climb when the crew reported smoke in the cockpit, levelled off at 5000 feet and returned to New Orleans. The crew reported before joining downwind that they had lost all instruments. The crew descended to 600 feet where they got visual contact with the water and continued visually for a landing on runway 19 about 10 minutes after departure, blew a tyre, but went left off the runway, stopped just off the paved surface with all gear north of the intersection with runway 10/28, and was evacuated via slides.

 

A number of passengers needed medical attention due to smoke inhalation.

 

The crew told passengers that they had lost all electronics and were flying on minimal backup systems, landing would occur overweight with minimal braking and minimal steering ability.

 

At the time of the emergency runway 10/28 at New Orleans was not available and was closed. Frantic attempts by tower to get the runway clear during the emergency proved unsuccessful, the runway was cleared and opened about 10 minutes after UA-497 had landed.

 

The NTSB reported that the crew received automated warnings and observed smoke in the cockpit while climbing through 4000 feet, subsequently they reported the loss of primary instruments. Upon landing they experienced the loss of anti-skid and nose wheel steering and went off the left side of the runway about 2000 feet down the runway. The right forward slide did not inflate. The NTSB have opened an investigation.

[Pieter C. 5]

Gavin,

 

Here's more info for the 'off runway' encounter:

 

NTSB investigating United A320 cockpit smoke, runway excursion incident

 

| April 6, 2011

 

US National Transportation Safety Board said it is inspecting a Monday incident in which a United Airlines Airbus A320 en route from New Orleans to San Francisco experienced smoke in the cockpit, forcing the aircraft to return to MSY 20 minutes after departure. Upon landing, it exited the left side of the MSY runway.

 

According to NTSB, "Preliminary information indicates that, while climbing through 4,000 feet, the crew reportedly received automated warnings and detected smoke in the cockpit. A loss of primary instrumentation was also reported during the event. The crew indicated that they initiated emergency procedures and turned back to the airport. Upon landing, the crew described a loss of anti-skid braking and nose-wheel steering and exited the runway approximately 2,000 feet from the approach threshold."

 

The flight's 109 passengers and crew exited safely via slides, though "it was reported that the right forward slide did not inflate," NTSB stated. There were no reported injuries. NTSB said the aircraft has "minor damage." The board plans to issue an initial report on the incident in 10 days.

[EricD 0]

AVWeb Link from a instructor thru a friend on facebook.

 

 

 

United 497 Emergency: Effort To Clear Runway Falls Short

By Paul Bertorelli, Editorial Director

 

While the crew of United 497 was struggling with smoke in the cockpit and loss of electrical power to the Airbus A-320's instrumentation, ground crews had their hands full, too. The aircraft had just departed New Orleans en route to San Francisco when fire or smoke detection equipment in the cockpit alarmed and smoke began filling the cockpit. The crew immediately requested a vector back to the airport and shortly thereafter declared an emergency. It also requested runway 10/28, New Orleans' longest runway, at 10,080 feet. But the runway was undergoing maintenance and cluttered with numerous vehicles and workers. Despite an urgent request from the tower to clear the runway, it remained obstructed and United 497 landed on the 7001-foot runway 19 instead. Because its steering and braking may have been compromised by the electrical failure, the Airbus departed the runway to one side and came to a stop with the nosewheel mired in mud. All 109 persons aboard evacuated without serious injury. The NTSB reported that one forward slide failed to deploy, but neither the airline nor the safety agency provided any information on the extent of fire damage in the cockpit.

 

From takeoff to emergency landing, the entire event transpired in 12 minutes. Flight 497 took off from runway 19 at 7:07 a.m. and reported smoke in the cockpit just as it climbed through 4000 feet, four minutes later. The aircraft then turned northeast and flew a wide loop over Lake Pontchartrain as it was vectored back to runway 19 at Louis Armstrong Airport.

 

According to recordings of approach, tower and ground operations provided courtesy of LiveATC.net -- download the MP3 here -- the crew requested the longest runway, 10/28, but the tower informed the flight that "there is a bunch of equipment on there. They're trying to get it off now." An unidentified voice on the tape, which may have been 497 or an interphone reply, said, "You need to clear it for us." At one point, the tower operator said to ground ops: "Can you verify the vehicles are exiting … 'cause I haven't seen any of the vehicles move and the aircraft is 10 to the northwest and they have to have runway 10." A ground operator told the tower, "We can start trying to pull them off, but I don't know if we're going to get them off in time." The runway was not cleared in time and Flight 497 landed on the same runway it departed from, 19.

 

At 7:15 a.m., Flight 497 was given a 140-degree vector to intercept the runway 10 localizer, but a minute later, at 7:16:10, it reported that all of its primary instruments had failed, although its comms continued to function normally. The crew said, "Ah … we've lost all of our instruments right now and we're gonna need … just a PAR." ATC responds by saying, "I can give you no-gyro, sir, if you need it." (New Orleans has publish ASR radar minimums, but not PAR capability.)

 

The radar controller then issued stop turn directives to line the aircraft up with the Pontchartrain shoreline and a straight-in visual approach for runway 19.

 

The weather at the time of the incident was reported as 2500 broken with visibility of 7 miles. The wind was 180 at 15 knots, with gusts to 22 knots.

 

[Gavin Andrew David 6]

Okay with more info , it sounds more realistic .

 

He must have lost AC BUS1 / BUS2

 

What a thing to go through . With that much weight , and no anti-skid , and maybe only flaps 1 or 2 for landing . he must have come in really hot .

 

I would definitely give this a try soon