One of the lessons I learned from the creation of this blog is that a large interest for crashes and air disasters exist amongst readership. As I already mentioned, the work of the investigators is not easy, very time consuming, and base on many sources of information (testimonies when available, black-boxes, wreckage analysis, expert works, ...).
These reports are the only valid pieces of information when discussing air disasters. Any other published information is based only on speculation, stolen and / or distorted information. Reports are quite complex to read and understand, but they are nevertheless available to public.
So as to familiarize you with such reports, here are some links to the reports published after accidents that attracted lot of media attention. Please feel free to comment if you have any question or remark.
Concorde crash in Gonesse, 25th of July 2000 - French BEA
Ueberlingen mid-air collision, 1st of July 2002 - German DFS
TWA800 in-flight breakup, 17th of July 1996 - US NTSB
I did not select these accidents because they all occurred in July, but because they represent different type of accidents, and have been produced by different investigation agencies. Thus they give an overview of what an investigation report is.
Showing posts with label incident report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label incident report. Show all posts
Sunday, 26 August 2007
Friday, 17 August 2007
The black-box is orange
Each time an aviation accident occurs, the media talk about the black box. This is always presented as kind of a magic tool to solve all issues with the investigation. As I already mentionned in previous posts about the TAM crash in Sao Paolo and others, life is not so easy, and I'd like to unveil some of the black-box mistery with this post.
First of all, there are two black-boxes, not one. The first one is the "Cockpit Voide Recorder", and its name is quite self explanatory. It just records all voice communication, as well as cockpit noises. It can help to explain the human factor part of an accident.
The second one is the "Flight Data Recorder", or more recently, "Digital Flight Data Recorder", or DFDR. This one records several parameters, including but not limited to:
1) Air parameters (speed, altitude, ...)
2) Aircraft configuration (flaps position, gear position, control column inputs, control surfaces position)
3) Engine parameters (power, pressures, temperatures, ...)
Depending the type of operation and the number of seats of the aircraft, it can be mandatory or not to have CVR, FDR, or both. On modern airliners, there are also technical recorders, called "Quick Access Recorder", or QAR, which are used by maintenance teams to monitor the technical status of the aircraft.
If you want to know more about FDRs, the french incident investigation burea produced a very good report about them, including details of their functionning, regulations, and some pictures.
Oh, and by the way, the black-boxes are orange, so as to be easier to locate for rescue / investigation teams. They are in protected cases, supposed to resist a crash, but it frequently happens that they get damaged. This was particularly true with the magnetic tape ones, where the tape tended to melt, or to be damaged by sea water.
It is also quite frequent to not have the very last seconds of recordings, because of communication failures between the aircraft and the recorder, in case the aircraft is broken up, or if electrical cables are damaged by overloads.
The analysis and transcription of black-box contents can be done only be certified and assermented officers.
To close this post, here is a link to the French air incident investigation bureau website, listing some other equivalent organisations. From here you can find many investigation reports. And please remind that these reports are the only one holding established facts. All the rest is journalist work as its best.
First of all, there are two black-boxes, not one. The first one is the "Cockpit Voide Recorder", and its name is quite self explanatory. It just records all voice communication, as well as cockpit noises. It can help to explain the human factor part of an accident.
The second one is the "Flight Data Recorder", or more recently, "Digital Flight Data Recorder", or DFDR. This one records several parameters, including but not limited to:
1) Air parameters (speed, altitude, ...)
2) Aircraft configuration (flaps position, gear position, control column inputs, control surfaces position)
3) Engine parameters (power, pressures, temperatures, ...)
Depending the type of operation and the number of seats of the aircraft, it can be mandatory or not to have CVR, FDR, or both. On modern airliners, there are also technical recorders, called "Quick Access Recorder", or QAR, which are used by maintenance teams to monitor the technical status of the aircraft.
If you want to know more about FDRs, the french incident investigation burea produced a very good report about them, including details of their functionning, regulations, and some pictures.
Oh, and by the way, the black-boxes are orange, so as to be easier to locate for rescue / investigation teams. They are in protected cases, supposed to resist a crash, but it frequently happens that they get damaged. This was particularly true with the magnetic tape ones, where the tape tended to melt, or to be damaged by sea water.
It is also quite frequent to not have the very last seconds of recordings, because of communication failures between the aircraft and the recorder, in case the aircraft is broken up, or if electrical cables are damaged by overloads.
The analysis and transcription of black-box contents can be done only be certified and assermented officers.
To close this post, here is a link to the French air incident investigation bureau website, listing some other equivalent organisations. From here you can find many investigation reports. And please remind that these reports are the only one holding established facts. All the rest is journalist work as its best.
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