Ogie Oglethorpe wrote:
NWsider4-3-3 wrote:
same type of plane as the crash in indiana on the rainy/sleet/foggy halloween 1994.
rip to all.
American and other US airlines phased out this model from their regional fleets because it is particularly vulnerable to icing conditions due to a deicing boot that doesn't extend back far enough. You get enough ice on the wings and they no longer create lift and you'll stall even at normal airspeed. Considering there was a warning for icing conditions at the time, we have a good idea of what the likely cause was.
yeah, first thing...i thought of the icing, thought brazil...know it's 'winter' south of the equator...but, dismissed the thought, thinking of how close to the equator brazil is and no real winter freezing. i guess i was wrong, as icing is being considered and will be investigated. also, state of sao paolo is relatively 'far' from the equator. could definitely be a tie-in. i checked at work the other day, high 40's on the ground at night there. using my trusty scale, temperature at cruising altitude (19,000 ft) may have been -14 F, if ground temp was 49 F.. even the jet dc-9's/super-80s were vulnerable to icing, due to the thin wings. even at higher ground temps, wings had to be checked.
i never worked on props/atr. had heard through the years that they aren't anything state-of-the-art, when it comes to non-vital parts being durable.
the eagle crash. i know that the company moved atrs out of cold weather stations after the crash. if i remember correctly, the flight was tragic due to the size of the freezing droplets and where the subsequent ice formed - beyond the deicing boots. i believe the anti-icing systems were functioning. I also believe the company got better scope language in it's contract with AA mainline pilots and that allowed the company to use lower paid pilots to fly bigger props/regional jets with more pax seats - so that quicked the pace of eliminating the atrs and other props as equipment.