@ lowing
The plane only lost its vertical stabilizer, It could of had a chance of landing if the hydraulic line wasn't ruptured, also, it didn't completely loose the vertical stabilizer, it had at least a half of it without the rudder. Hydraulic failure doomed them.
From your link: "When the bulkhead gave way, the resulting explosive decompression ruptured the lines of all four hydraulic systems. With the aircraft's control surfaces disabled, the aircraft became uncontrollable."
Also, you are wrong. On Airbus aircraft, Fly by wire comes from computers, those computers also provide flight envelope protection. And this feature is attached to all planes equipped with Fly by Wire systems. The only Boeing with this system is the Boeing Triple Seven. Although it can be overridden. All your other Boeing aircraft are left with mechanical controls and no flight envelope protection. That's why there are vulnerable to terrorism. The only protection the classic Boeing has is "Bank Angle" "Overspeed" "Stall" etc... Voice warnings, but no control limits.
"Flight envelope protection is a human machine interface extension of an aircraft’s control system that prevents the pilot of an aircraft from making control commands that would force the aircraft to exceed its structural and aerodynamic operating limits. It is used in some form in all modern commercial fly-by-wire aircraft. Its advantage is that it restricts pilots in emergency situations so they can react quickly without endangering the safety of their aircraft."
Last edited by Ioan92 (2009-06-04 06:45:16)