On Jan 22, 11:21�am, Douglas Johnson wrote:
wrote:
He needs to trade, very carefully, altitude for speed vs distance.

The fact he was able to get the right combination speaks volumes about
the man's flying knowlege .

Yep. �It shows he read the A320 flight manual and knew the plane's Vbg.

Apparently he was just above stall when he
dragged the tail in (nose high, likely on full flaps, or very close) -
and dragging the tail reduced the speed to below stall which allowed
the plane to pancake in virtually level at a low enough speed that it
just tore one engine off it's pilon without significantly turning or
flipping the plane.

Very nicely done.

But here's my standard for brilliant flying and cool command:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_232

A DC-10 lost all hydraulic power and thus all flight controls except the
throttles on two engines. �Captain and crew brought it to a semi-controlled
landing at Sioux City, Iowa. �185 survivors out of 296 on board. �

Approach control cleared him to "land any runway". �His response:

"[laughter] Roger. [laughter] You want to be particular and make it a runway,
huh?" �

Earlier on a more serious note the captain said:

"Whatever you do, keep us away from the city."

As the airplane was approaching, still 15 minutes out, air traffic control
notified the hospitals in the area not with the usual "an airliner is in
distress", but "an airliner has crashed". �

At the end of the Wikipedia article, there is a link to a transcript of a speech
the captain gave to NASA. �It is a stunning insight to the accident, �crew and
ground responses to emergencies, airline training, and the man himself. �

Here it is for a shortcut:

http://yarchive.net/air/airliners/dc10_sioux_city.html

-- Doug

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the show AIR EMERGENCY on the national geographic
channel. It tells the story of many crashes in great detail not about
the gory stuff but the technical aspects.

Near all problems are a combination of troubles