62
votes
Accepted
Why didn’t the Captain of Cathay Pacific flight 780 shut down engine 1 and land with a more reasonable speed?
You can find the full incident report here and this topic is touched upon briefly, but in short they had little to no time to entertain any other options but a full speed landing.
It was not until ...
- 100k
61
votes
Why didn’t the Captain of Cathay Pacific flight 780 shut down engine 1 and land with a more reasonable speed?
Engine #2 wasn't doing its job either
Had the situation just been engine #1 stuck at high thrust, with engine 2 normally controllable, than what you describe would be a reasonable response to the ...
42
votes
Why can't an Airbus A330 dump fuel in an emergency?
To supplement Jimmy's answer, if they had to land right away, they could have; it just would've resulted in an overweight landing being recorded, and which on most airliners triggers a special ...
- 125k
31
votes
Accepted
What is this hole in the nose of the A330?
It is the avionic compartment access door as described in the Flight Crew Operating Manual!
An inward-opening, manually operated, hinged door gives access to the avionics compartment. This door is ...
- 1,406
25
votes
Accepted
Why didn't the A330neo and A320neo share the cockpit of the A350?
The short answer is that it's what the market wanted. There is always a lot of discussions between the airlines and manufacturer's before Airbus or Boeing commits to building a new aircraft. In ...
- 18.8k
25
votes
Why does the wing root of the A330 have a pronounced twist?
Short answer:
To create a funnel for all the air streaming towards the fuselage.
Slightly longer answer:
Air approaching a swept wing will be accelerated towards the area with the lowest pressure and, ...
- 228k
24
votes
Accepted
How do pilots detect fuel contamination in flight?
If fuel contamination is suspected (because of engine control system fault indications, slow engine responses or rapid engine pressure ratio (EPR) fluctuations), there is an associated checklist ...
- 81.7k
24
votes
Accepted
How is a 436 seater A330 fuel efficient?
First of all, keep in mind that the Philippines has one of the shortest average populations on Earth. Their average passenger weighs a lot less than an average American or European, since weight ...
- 19.3k
24
votes
Why didn’t the Captain of Cathay Pacific flight 780 shut down engine 1 and land with a more reasonable speed?
From the incident report section 1.1.4:
a. At 0519 hrs during the descent to a cleared level of FL230, ECAM
messages “ENG 1 CTL SYS FAULT” and “ENG 2 STALL” were annunciated
within a short ...
- 52.8k
24
votes
Why can't an Airbus A330 dump fuel in an emergency?
I think the characterization that it's "too heavy to land safely" is erroneous; the fuel burning is probably out of circumspection and to allow for a better safety margin. The runway length may also ...
- 11k
16
votes
Accepted
Why is the horizontal stabilizer root interface designed this way?
It is a seal- to prevent entry of air into the stabilizer mounting area. For aircraft with trimmable horizontal stabilizers (THS), there is an opening to the rear of the aft bulkhead to allow for the ...
- 99.9k
15
votes
Why didn't the A330neo and A320neo share the cockpit of the A350?
To add to Gerry's answer (and this will be slightly too long for a comment), there is a huge disadvantage to drastically changing the cockpit when going from an A320 to the A320 NEO or from a B737-300 ...
- 48.3k
13
votes
What is this hole in the nose of the A330?
That 'hole' gives access to the avionics comparment- forward zone. The comparment has a ground access ladder, which is seen in the image. The deployment of that ladder (which is similar in A330/A340) ...
- 99.9k
13
votes
Accepted
What is this tube-like thing protruding from under an A330's wing?
It is the port for mid-air fuel jettison.
(Image credit: http://opilotoprofissional.blogspot.hk/2011/08/consideracoes-sobre-overweight-landing.html)
The A330 is a long range airliner, capable of ...
- 39.6k
13
votes
Accepted
Why did AF447 never return to normal law?
If the system detects anomalies for more than about ten seconds, alternate law becomes locked in for the remainder of the flight.
The system detected a change in the median value of the three ...
- 28.3k
12
votes
Accepted
What other circumstances may cause the autopilot to trip out?
What other circumstances may cause the autopilot to trip out?
There are numerous circumstances, a few at random
pilot presses the autopilot disconnect pushbutton.
applying force to control-stick ...
- 26.2k
12
votes
Why didn’t the Captain of Cathay Pacific flight 780 shut down engine 1 and land with a more reasonable speed?
Aside from what Unrec. and GdD point out, even if the other engine had been running perfectly...
A frequent problem with twin engine airplanes is shutting down the wrong engine. Nobody ever ...
12
votes
Accepted
What is this probe on the Airbus A330 engine nacelle?
On the Rolls-Royce TRENT 7XX-8XX and RB-221-5XX, that is the "Engine Breather Outlet".
Cite: https://www.scribd.com/doc/283987010/A330-ATA-71-80-RR-Trent-700-L3-e-pdf# (page 44)
Possibly ...
- 476
11
votes
Accepted
What is the occasional crackling sound on an A330?
I have recently flown on a China Eastern A330-200 from Shanghai to Beijing and that noise was heard around 10.000 feet both on the way up and on the way down. It sounds awful! Everybody was rather ...
- 126
11
votes
Accepted
What are these small propellers in the A330 MRTT's wings?
Those two locations you circled out are the under-wing refuelling pods, mounted on pylons (where, I suspect, the A340 outboard engines would be).
You can find a picture of them on the A330 MRTT ...
- 855
11
votes
What’s the difference between an AIRSPEED LOW warning and a STALL warning?
Referring to one manufacturer's nomenclature and systems:
The "AIRSPEED LOW" caution occurs shortly after the speed drops below the Minimum maneuver speed. The Min Maneuv spd is ~30% above ...
- 1,615
10
votes
Why does the A330 sit nose-down on the ground?
For one reason or another, the main gear was made longer that originally planned and it was decided to avoid the cost and weight also extending the nose gear to match. The nose down angle while ...
- 125k
9
votes
Why is Airbus proceeding with both the A330neo and A350 XWB?
Actually the A330neo is already eating up into the A350-800 orders so much that they have abandoned it.
“Their A350 strategy has failed -- they’re really down to one successful model,” Boeing ...
- 99.9k
9
votes
Accepted
Is the A330F main deck cargo compartment pressurized? If not, what is the purpose of the structural cargo access door?
You're correct- for cargo aircraft derived from passenger planes, the cabin is pressurized. This reduces the complexity and certification requirements. Also, this allows for easy conversion too. The ...
- 99.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Why is Airbus proceeding with both the A330neo and A350 XWB?
Mainly because of customer concerns.
Airbus, or any other aircraft manufacturer can propose a bunch of variants in its catalog, but it's the airlines that defines what aircraft are to be developed ...
- 849
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible