Ask me about being an airline pilot or flying in general

I remember when that occurred. My understanding is that it was a software issue or a lack of understanding by the crew of the various flight regimes encoded in the software and what that means about flight characteristics.

Video I watched seem to attribute it to bending the rules doubly about how low they let it fly (from the standard 500 feet to 100 feet, then to 30 feet), little to no preparation, then changing the low flyover path and not knowing there was a forest beyond that runway. What a disaster clusterfluck. Kind of unbelievable to watch.

Released from the UPS MD-11F crash. Engine just taking off on its own

oh wow, would that more likely be mechanical failure from a foreign object?

No. FOD wouldn't do that. The engine is secured to the mount by 6 or 8 bolts. Was the problem there, or with the engine pylon/wing attachment? We'll know soon enough.

Very reminiscient of the American Airline Flight 191 crash out of Chicago in 1979. That was a DC-10, which has the same engine configuration as the MD-11. For flight 191, it was also the left engine that departed the aircraft. In that case, the investigation revealed that there had been damage to the engine pylon during a previous engine change. This was because the maintenance people had come up with a way to save about 200 man-hours of time on the engine change by removing the engine and pylon together rather than individually as recommended by the manufacturer.

Physically losing an engine would be theoretically survivable if no other damage occurred, but the separation of the engine severed hydraulic lines in the left wing. Hyrdraulic pressure was needed to maintain leading edge slat extension. Without hydraulic pressure, the slat retracted under the increased air load and this resulted in a reduction of the stall speed for that wing only. The result: an uncontrollable left bank that continued to about 112 degrees.

However, these are different aircraft types, so we'll have to wait for the results of the investigation.

as always appreciate perspective from a professional we all walked off it sir

initial finger pointing will likely include engineering and/or quality of material supply

Hmmm...

I could see losing an engine mid flight could be survivable but on takeoff, assuming the plane was heavily loaded? Wouldn't the loss of thrust combined by the immediate weight imbalance cause the plane to crash even if the hydraulic lines were somehow not severed?

I guess we will hear the case that the age of the plane, 34 years, is not a factor in the breakdown. Like we see engines jettisoning off of new planes on the regular. Old planes for cargo are more dangerous and prone to all manner of breakdowns, but to say that outright in the investigation means, "We are okay with endangering people here, there is an increased level of tolerance for that danger without passengers."

The first plane I flew a mission on was built in 1962. It is still flying. If you do the maintenance right, re-skin as appropriate, etc. heavies can fly for an amazing number of years.

And there it is. The auto dodging of the undeniable point: reliability decreases as age increases. And because older planes are obviously still flying, I'll take that as evidence contrary to the obvious reality of the situation.

Well, of course that's true, but it's not just age. Proper inspections and maintenance become much more important as age and (especially) flying hours increase.

My point is only that it being 34 years old does not, inherently, make it unsafe. 34 years old and no non-destructive testing (NDT) for cracks? Definitely unsafe. From what I heard, it had been through NDT and was coming up on it's next check. Whether someone screwed up last time, or the metal fatigued more quickly than generally expected, I don't know. If the latter, that could be due to age, over-G due to unsafe maneuvers or load, loose connectors leading to excess vibration/shifting, and/or ...

everything about that sequence of events was directly pointed and compounded toward cotastrophe

Do you know what range is?

The weight imbalance is not as consequential as it might appear. Still, you could well be right because the V1 go/no-go speed is really based on a loss of engine thrust at rotation, and not the physical loss of the engine.

I spent a good portion of my career flying airplanes older than 30 years (almost the entire fleet of 757s and 767s I flew). Maintenance is the key. Parts are replaced and various levels of inspection for fatigue and wear are done on routine schedules. The rules for Part 25 aircraft are no different for passenger and cargo operations.

But I'll defer to your expertise on the subject.

The last B-52 came off the assembly line in 1962 or 63, I believe. At 60+ years old, every single B-52 is older than any pilot or crew member flying them. At some point, you have to consider the Ship of Theseus paradox:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Th...

Personal note:

I was absent from here for a while. I'm currently dealing with a recurrence of liposarcoma. I had a tumor removed in February 2016 and spent a year to get my medical certificate back and return to flying.

Early this year, I was having some discomfort in my lower left abdomen and it proved to be another tumor. Surgery on March 12 was not completely successful, as the tumor was abutting the small bowel and the surgeon couldn't get it all.

I went through oral chemo in June, without success and then began a course of Proton Radiation Therapy. Eight weeks (40 sessions) of radiation ended on November 17th. I post updates to what's happening on a site called CaringBridge.org. For anyone interested, you can search for my name, Steve Satre. (I'm not really concerned about anonymity at this point).

I'm feeling good about the Proton radiation and we'll know more in a couple of months. Meanwhile, I'm oddly unconcerned. I'm 70 years old now and cancer certainly isn't unique to me. I'll bet each person reading this has known someone, friend or family, who has dealt with cancer. And many of you have your own cancer history. So I really don't feel sorry for myself. Any feelings of sadness I have on the topic of cancer are reserved for pediatric cases.

Each day is still great. Today is the best day of my life, and you are all part of it.

And just fyi, I'm an atheist who is comfortable with my ultimate return to being stardust.

I hope this doesn't bring the discussion down. I still love everything aviation related. Keep the comments coming!

Best of luck. I appreciate everything you have and continue to contribute to this community. 😀

Best of luck with everything! I appreciate your openness and attitude towards life.

Wishing you all the best! You've been a wonderful font of knowledge for idiots like me who just see Reddit posts or Instagram reels.

Hang in there, man. You have tons of support right here.

W0X0F, I'm not sure how I would handle this, but admire how you are doing it. Thanks for sharing and I wish you the best. You have shared/taught me a lot.

Wishing you the best!

A good friend of mine underwent proton radiation for prostate cancer several years ago when he was about your age. He can't stop singing its praises loudly or often enough--now that he's through it. May your outcome be as good as his!