The safest form of transport

84 pages and counting on the pprune forum:- Today we simulated the Turkish scenario in a B733 simulator. At 1800 feet AGL and established on the ILS, we retarded the throttles to idle, simulating what the Turkish B738 autopilot did. The aircraft started trimming slowly at first, and then more and more rapidly to maintain the glide slope. We allowed the stick shaker to activate and after around 8 seconds of stick shaker we applied full thrust and attempted a recovery without reconfiguring. With the control yoke pushed as far forward as it could go, the aircraft started to accelerate and a climb was initiated and it appeared that we were recovering. Note that this is with the yoke pushed forward against the forward stop. Then, all of a sudden, the aircraft entered a deep stall as the rudder lost effectiveness and the aircraft forward speed rapidly bled off and we entered a 6000 ft/min plus rate of descent until impacting the ground in an apparent tail low attitude. The reason for our not recovering was due to the extreme amount of trim the autopilot had applied while attempting to maintain the glide slope. The only way that we could have recovered would have been to apply extensive nose down trim during the initial recovery. We performed this exercise twice and both times produced the same result. We firmly believe that this is what was the cause of the Turkish crash.

Spot the Spout

Hellau* to the man(?) dressed as a watering can for the Wiesbaden carnival.

*Editors footnote: The German folk appear to have difficulty spelling "Hello".

Greek Order

The fitting of pavement railings by Dora the last Mayor of Athens has at least prevented parked cars blocking every available pavement in the capital of Greek order, democracy and freedom. The freed up space can now be used correctly.

Dilusions of Dakar

It's always a bit of an adventure buying a secondhand vehicle: Following the initial excitement of delivery little transgressions of confidence dribble out. Take this for instance, sand and two dead flies discovered in the air box. Has this bike been thrashed through the Sahara? Or maybe it's last owner went to Pendine sands on a speed trial? Stop worrying and just fit the new battery!

Please do not adjust your set

We apologise for the extended intermission: We hope to resume normal service when my dispute with 3 is resolved.

Always Look on the Bright Side

Ray Charles is resonating in my head My bills are all due and the baby needs shoes and I'm busted.
So here is something to raise the spirits (editorial note - on checking my blog for repetition or deviation or something, I noticed that I have been flogging away at this blogging since 2007 - my profound apologies!).

Funeral for a Friend

I must return so soon to Athens to say goodbye to a dear friend who has been part of my life all my life.