Post by Dave Athay on Apr 22, 2012 22:49:17 GMT -5
If you're considering a transcontinental flight tonight, be very careful over Iowa!
I was flying flight 3 from DCA to SLC. Had a slight tailwind all the way to Indiana. But by the time I got to Iowa, things started getting nasty. I turned on the seat belt sign when it got choppy, and within a few minutes I was having trouble maintaining control at 20,000 ft. So I thought I'd try to climb and see if I could get smoother air. Nope. Lost control around 21,500, resulting in a stall. It took about 40 degrees nose down to get out of the stall, resulting in a massive altitude loss and severe overspeed, all while still getting thrown around by turbulence.
I got control of the plane back, but figured it was probably going to get worse before it got better, and after what had just happened, the integrity of the airframe was in question and there probably wasn't anyone on the plane who really felt like flying any more anyway. Omaha, Nebraska was about 30 miles ahead, so I chopped the throttles, dropped the gear, and did an emergency descent. It worked out really well and resulted in a very nice landing about 2,000 pounds over max landing weight.
So, now we've got a roughed-up DC-6B, 50 or so stranded passengers, and a slightly injured flight attendant in Omaha. Anybody want to fly in a replacement aircraft, crew, and some mechanics? A CV-240 would probably have enough seats if you don't want to bring a DC-6B. I think a few of the passengers are taking the train the rest of the way...
If anyone's interested in the "rescue" mission, just log it as the SLC-DCA and then DCA-SLC flights, and make notes in the remarks section that you actually went to OMA.
Hope your flights are ending up better this weekend! I'm chalking it up to the way MSFS does "turbulence" and wind shear and stuff (not very realistically).
I was flying flight 3 from DCA to SLC. Had a slight tailwind all the way to Indiana. But by the time I got to Iowa, things started getting nasty. I turned on the seat belt sign when it got choppy, and within a few minutes I was having trouble maintaining control at 20,000 ft. So I thought I'd try to climb and see if I could get smoother air. Nope. Lost control around 21,500, resulting in a stall. It took about 40 degrees nose down to get out of the stall, resulting in a massive altitude loss and severe overspeed, all while still getting thrown around by turbulence.
I got control of the plane back, but figured it was probably going to get worse before it got better, and after what had just happened, the integrity of the airframe was in question and there probably wasn't anyone on the plane who really felt like flying any more anyway. Omaha, Nebraska was about 30 miles ahead, so I chopped the throttles, dropped the gear, and did an emergency descent. It worked out really well and resulted in a very nice landing about 2,000 pounds over max landing weight.
So, now we've got a roughed-up DC-6B, 50 or so stranded passengers, and a slightly injured flight attendant in Omaha. Anybody want to fly in a replacement aircraft, crew, and some mechanics? A CV-240 would probably have enough seats if you don't want to bring a DC-6B. I think a few of the passengers are taking the train the rest of the way...
If anyone's interested in the "rescue" mission, just log it as the SLC-DCA and then DCA-SLC flights, and make notes in the remarks section that you actually went to OMA.
Hope your flights are ending up better this weekend! I'm chalking it up to the way MSFS does "turbulence" and wind shear and stuff (not very realistically).
