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If I were to keep the record straight as in Star Trek this should actually be:
MockoBlog MockoLog # 7
I’m jinxing the evil eye of Google so they may not see this post and ignore it as they have done with all my sublime (mocko)work so far.
My 23 (twenty-three is like two every three days since I launched this blog) readers should feel relief and joy finding out that I was too busy at work to further test my slightly personalized mobile in harsh conditions like pubs, bars, late night pubs and night bars, not to mention jeans/denim back pocket while playing pool under the influence (a magic game I never actually get involved in, unfortunately).
All I did through these last days that involved Queen’s Birthday Weekend was to just have the new phone on me and go to work and back home. And back to work. And again.
Well, having a smartphone casually left on the table at lunch time in the work cafe triggers some comments. It goes like: “Oh, you have Internet on your phone!” or “Oh, I didn’t think Blackberry make them so small?” or “Is it an Ipod?”
I can’t be bothered answering these type of comments, I just say modestly, looking intensely at my plastic fork penetrating the plastic noodles: “No, it’s just – err, it’s just a phone, it was the best ever made when they launched it last year, but actually now it’s not, you can get a more expensive one, it doesn’t have the same features, but it will look bigger, with a bigger screen, you’ll pay for the screen and not for what it can do, so mine is still better. I mean, in a way – anyway, I love my noodles and this phone’s got GPS! See?! And real radio, listen!”
It’s such a cruel comment I’m going to make: the Air France flight from Brazil that was lost in the Atlantic might have had better phones on board.
But they were all switched off. I guess.
Not the phones interfeered with the Airbus’ fly- by-wire system or with its main computer talking with the land-based systems. I may be wrong but in 1994 an Airbus plane flying towards Paris had the auto pilot taking over from the human pilot. It performed jumps up and down, almost crushed the plane while the real pilot was trying to switch the auto system off. The plane went straight up and then down. I think I remember the pilot was then held as a hero, then silenced and perhaps he lost his job. The line that was operating that flight was Tarom. This is one saga I know of, but there might have been other ones. Please don’t take this as 100% sure, it’s just a blog anyway.
If any of my next to zero readers thinks this is a joke, please read:
In case they remove it from the database, here’s a copy of the incident, as described in Franglaise:
INCIDENT TAROM
Le 24 septembre 1994 a 12H 45 le pilote du A310-325 perd le contrôle de l’avion en arrivant à Orly face Ouest. L’avion pique sur la ville de Villeneuve le ROI. A 240 mêtres du sol, le pilote réussit a redresser l’avion.
Incident description – Status:Final
| Date: | 24 SEP 1994 |
| Time: | 12.45 |
| Type: | Airbus A.310-325 |
| Operator: | Tarom |
| Registration: | YR-LCA |
| C/n: | 636 |
| Year built: | 1992 |
| Crew: | 0 fatalities / 11 on board |
| Passengers: | 0 fatalities / 175 on board |
| Total: | 0 fatalities / 186 on board |
| Location: | Paris-Orly Airport (ORY) (France) |
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Scheduled Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Bucharest-Baneasa Airport (BBU) |
| Destination airport: | Paris-Orly Airport (ORY) |
| Flight number: | 381 |
Remarks:
Tarom Flight 381 approach to Paris-Orly Runway 26 and the captain was at the controls. He decided to perform an automatic approach and landing. The flight crew started to put the aircraft into the approach configuration, with slats and flaps at 15/0 at 10.42:05, then at 15/15 at 10.42:53. The landing gear was extended at 10.42:57. Approaching the OYE beacon at indicated speed 250 kt and heading 325, before lining up with the runway, the Captain noted that the aircraft was not capturing the ILS glide slope automatically. He disconnected the AP and continued the approach on manual control, keeping the Autothrottle in operation. As the aircraft descended through 1,700 feet, at 10.43:22, with a speed of about 195 knots, the Captain asked for flap extension to 20 . The VFE, the speed limit authorized for this new configuration, is 195 knots. When the flap control was set to 20 , the thrust levers advanced and engine thrust increased. The flight crew countered the nose-up effect resulting from the increase in thrust by using the pitch controls, with the auto-throttle (ATHR) remaining in automatic mode. The throttle levers were then quickly brought back to the idle position. At the same time, the trimmable horizontal stabilizer started to move in a nose-up direction. The nose up effect that resulted was countered by the flight crew through gradual nose-down action on the elevators. When the trimmable horizontal stabilizer reached its maximum nose-up value and the elevators also reached their maximum nose down value, the throttle levers, according to the FDR readout, moved rapidly to their stops. In a few seconds, the flight path started to rise and the pitch attitude went to 60 . Witnesses saw the aircraft climb. It banked sharply to the left and the right and stalled before adopting a strongly negative pitch attitude (-33 degrees) towards the ground. The maximum altitude reached was 4,100 feet, while a minimum indicated speed of 35 knots was recorded. The stall and ground proximity warnings sounded during the descent. The flight crew managed to regain control of the aircraft, with the lowest point being around a height of 800 feet, that is 240 meters from the ground. The flight crew then performed a visual circuit, followed from the tower by the controller. The second approach was made with a configuration with slats and flaps at 20/20. Landing took place at 10.52:25.
Safety actions :
Source: (also check out sources used for every accident)
S185 ; FI 5-11.10-94(4) + FI 23-29.11.94(6); AW&ST 03.10.94(37) ; ASW 03.10.94(6) + 17.10.94(6) + 24.10.94(3); Bureau Enquêtes-Accidents Report on the incident on 24 September 1994 during approach to Orly (94) to the Airbus A 310 registered YR-LCA operated by TAROM (YR-A940924A)
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A more famous Airbus incident happened the same year, this time all on bord died in Russia. The conflict between the autopilot and the human pilots was involved in this crush as well. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_593
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I’ll get back to my mobile phone goodies in a later post. Let’s have a moment of silence for the 228 victims of the last Airbus crush – Flight AF 447.
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On 28/06/09 I received on my email two photos that are thought to be taken on a Casio digital camera by Paulo G. Muller, a Brazilian passenger on that flight, moments before he must have lost his life. It is my duty to say that what can be seen in these pictures more or less destroys my theory and tends to point more towards an explosion, a possible terrorist attack. I have no further comments but I’m sure there will be readers who will.
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Now that you’ve seen the pictures, I can tell you that they are just dirty advertising for a Casio digital camera, they arrive in your inbox as an email with a story about a Brazilian actor who took them on his Casio camera. The images are actually frames from the TV series LOST. My original theory on what caused that crash stands!