Large cargo plane crashes east of Houston

a reply to: Zaphod58

Is there a way to find if its recently had any work done to the fuselage recently? Just wondering if a bad repair could've caused the fuselage to break apart?

a reply to: Woody510

Only if the maintenance records are released by the airline.

In the video you can see a line of light rain before a weak cold front that passed through today. I am west of Houston but it wasn't much in the way of bad weather when it passed here.

The sheriff said that human remains have been found. The water is only 5-6 feet deep, but divers are enroute to help assist with recovering wreckage and the recorders. He also said there were 6 witnesses, and several reported the engines surging as the aircraft descended.

I'm betting on it being either a shifting load on the main deck or a runaway stab. There is a remote chance of it being an un-commanded T/R deployment, but that's extremely unlikely post Lauda Air crash wash up. And in any case the altitude changes dont sound like the kind of asymmetric yawing problem that would cause anyway. I also doubt it is engine related.

a reply to: thebozeian

I am leaning towards either an elevator or trim tab issue personally.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Yes could be.It does sound like a struggle with control of altitude so either stab, elevator or trim.

According to the sheriff the largest piece of aircraft found so far is 50 feet. The debris field covers 3/4ths of a mile. Pictures of the site show very little wreckage on the surface, and remains of packages floating. The aircraft may have pulled a Valujet, and buried itself in the ground under the water, with the water being as shallow as it is.

a reply to: thebozeian

I'm wondering if it's related to the 2014 AD for the shear rivets in the bell crank assembly. They had 6 years to complete the changes, which is coming up next year.

This is a pretty interesting coincidence, from American 48, from DFW-CDG.

The incident under investigation occurred Tuesday as American Airlines flight 48, originating in Dallas, approached Charles de Gaulle International Airport. As the plane was descending through 6,000 feet, the flight crew told investigators, the plane's elevators did not respond as expected when they moved the control column.

www.cnn.com...

Swampy ground seems to cushion impacts better than hard terrain.Just hope they can locate the Black Boxes quickly.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Could take a while to sort if the official narrative becomes as indecisive as the SU-GAP investigation.

a reply to: Slichter

Part of that was dealing with the Egyptians and getting information from them, as well as having to run things by them. They won't have to deal with that here luckily.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Why do you suppose they made that hard left turn right before they started the nosedive?

a reply to: KansasGirl

They could have turned to work the problem and stay away from populated areas, or it could have been an early sign of the start of their problems.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Yes I remember that AD, pretty sure I had to do the inspection on at least one aircraft before we retired them all later that year. Its possible they hadn't done it and well, you know what that could mean.

originally posted by: thebozeian
a reply to: Zaphod58
Yes I remember that AD, pretty sure I had to do the inspection on at least one aircraft before we retired them all later that year. Its possible they hadn't done it and well, you know what that could mean.

That is such a scary thought. Does plane repair/inspection not involve some kind of a double-check process? 😳. With something that can result in massive loss of life if a person isn't on their best foot one day and overlooks something, seems like should be a few redundant or oversight steps in place.

Not much new info, but here is the latest from NBC News.

Eyewitness accounts seem to say there was a noise that sounded like lightning, engine surging noise, the plane made a turn and went into a nosedive. Not clear if the lightning sound or surging happened first.

Accounts from witnesses included those who described hearing "the surging of the engines" and others thought they were hearing lightning, but that appears to have been the plane, Hawthorne said.

"But there's no doubt he was having some kind of problem with the airplane, according to the eyewitnesses, and then it turned and went into a nosedive," the sheriff said.

Remains found after cargo jet with three aboard crashes in water near Houston

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Curious as to what that lightning sound was like. Not thunder but like a crack of lightning?