Failed Avionics a Possible Cause of BA038 Crash

Muhammar writes "As you may have heard by now, both engines of the Boeing 777 aircraft flight BA038 suddenly cut off without warning at very low altitude and low speed during autopilot-assisted landing at Heathrow. A prompt reaction of the pilots prevented the stall and saved all lives aboard. The crash landing short of the runway tore off the landing gear on impact, and the fuselage plowed a long, deep gouge in the grass. With the investigation ongoing, the available information points to an electronic control problem as the most likely cause of the sudden engine power loss."

Comments

Possible autothrottle problem

[bananaendian]

With the investigation ongoing, the available information points to an electronic control problem as the most likely cause of the sudden engine power loss."

What I've read is that the pilots observed a relatively gradual loss of power symmetrically on both engines. This tells me that I can rule out engine problems with FADEC and fuel. It all points to the auto-throttle. Autopilot tells where it wants the plane to go and autothrottle calculates how much throttle is needed. It then commands both engines FADECs via the bus system which is doubly redundant. What I'm thinking is that auto-throttle is supposed to be backed up, bypassed by a manual direct control to the engine FADECs from the cockpit throttle control?

Any B777 avionics mechanics around - I only know military jets...

Re:terrists?

[R2.0]

A little bit of perspective here.

First, there were MANY credible witnesses that swore they saw a missile shoot into the sky before the explosion. Of course, it turned out to be the different trajectories of the airplane pieces, but that was only figured out after a detailed analysis of radar records.

Second, prior to Flight 800 the terrorist explanation WAS more likely - I don't think a modern airliner had EVER exploded by itself before that, but there had been a few that did it with outside help.

Finally, the intelligence and police agencies were careful NOT to peg it on terrorists as the only theory. It was the news media that ran with the "Arabs and Stingers and Bombs Oh My" stories incessantly. Yeah, the government floated the idea - because it was a definite possibility. What are they going to say? "We have some eyewitness acounts of what looks like a missile launch, but we have definitely ruled out terrorist involvement."

As an aside, where are the Flight 800 "Truthers"? Why isn't anyone blathering about the conspiracy to hide the REAL reason Flight 800 blew up?