From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V4 #256 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Monday, September 20 1999 Volume 04 : Number 256 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Alloy: my scary airplane photos are finally up [Paul Baily Subject: Re: Alloy: my scary airplane photos are finally up 'ello! >I've just made some revisions to my personal page (playing with color now..!) Lookin' good, girl! ;-) >and I've finally gotten around to putting up those photos of the torn-up >airplane wing I've been wanting to ask all of Alloy's pilots and frequent >flyers about. This was the damage which occured to the plane we were on >going >to England in 1990. Please go to >http://members.aol.com/RThurF/RobinsHomePage.html >if you have a chance, ad let me know of your opinions (especially the weird >yellow stain) Okay, I just took a look now and it's got me curious too. I think what you're looking at there is the main wing just inboard of No.2 engine (closest to the body, left side) and two of the trailing edge flaps partially extended. Flaps are used to increase the camber of a wing, changing it's lift characteristics. The further the flaps are extended, the more lift the wing generates and the slower a plane can fly without stalling. They're used for takeoff, but more so in landing. I'd say the pilot was being very cautious since on a 747 these flaps would be extended far more were the craft in the air on approach (think of how a bird has it's wing feathers when landing), and retracted completely if the craft was on the ground following the landing. You can normally see sizeable gaps between each flap on a 747 when they're fully extended so it would have been coming in much faster than usual. It must have been an eventful landing! What's got me curious though is what could have caused that kind of damage. In normal flight, the flaps are retracted so the three separate surfaces you see are all bunched together. The damage would then have been in one concentrated area. Air normally flows smoothly - though at low pressure and very quickly - over this part of a wing. No idea what might have chewed through three systematically inert sections like that though. Barring a wiring fire or hydraulic leak just in front of the flap, my wild guess is some kind of corrosion or a loose or fatigued panel vibrating then getting caught by the wind (did I say the air moved FAST?) and in the process of tearing off, inflicted damage on the two trailing edge flaps. Nope not happy with that explanation, the leading edge of the hole is not clean, so it wasn't a whole panel. Really doubt it could have been any object hitting the wing too since anything going fast enough to impact that part of the wing would have gone clean through it: it's probably the most 'leeward' part of a wing. Out of ideas here, and probably don't know what I'm talking about anyway. Oh, wait, did you see the movie version of Twilight Zone? The one with Dan Akyroyd & John Lithgow? ;-) Anyways, glad to hear that the pilot knew the true gravity of the situation when he saw the name "Thurlow, Robin" on the passenger list. He'd have known that he HAD to get it down in one piece then. P. This message powered by "the dam at otter creek" off Throwing Copper/Live. Deem obvious line from Flying North duly quoted! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 22:40:38 +0100 From: Slarvibarglhee Subject: Re: Alloy: my scary airplane photos are finally up Paul Baily wrote: > > > Out of ideas here, and probably don't know what I'm talking about anyway. > Oh, wait, did you see the movie version of Twilight Zone? The one with > Dan Akyroyd & John Lithgow? ;-) > Oh, I think it's obvious. The yellow stains give it away. Robin's plane was obviously hit by a block of frozen urine from another plane at a higher altitude. But I have another puzzle that needs an answer. In the photo 'a more modern birthday last year - the big 3-0' why is Julia Roberts blowing out the candles on Robin's cake? Slarv ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 22:10:01 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: my scary airplane photos are finally up In a message dated 9/19/99 7:31:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time, justsomeguy@ozemail.com.au writes: :: In normal flight, the flaps are retracted so the three separate surfaces you see are all bunched together. The damage would then have been in one concentrated area. Air normally flows smoothly - though at low pressure and very quickly - over this part of a wing. No idea what might have chewed through three systematically inert sections like that though. :: That's exactly what's had me thinking it wasn't a natural occurance (like "ice", as was the explaination given to us by the pilot) This flight was the August after the tragic Lockerbie, Scotland disaster, same airline too. I was afraid someone had decided to try to do the same thing again. The two smaller holes blowing upward through the flaps remind me a little too much of the way schrapnel or buckshot fans out. It makes me think it had to have been an explosion of some kind. If it had been more powerful, this might even have made the wing come away from the body of the plane, when combined with normal wind shear at 80,000 feet. Perhaps it was a wiring thing. I don't know what is normally behind that little panel with the two holes blown out from it. Slarvi's frozen urine block theory may be valid, especially if the urine block was fired up from below & then fragmented as it passed through the wing flaps. Did I mention that every mode of transportation we attempted during our stay in Britain that time went wrong somehow? The London Underground was miserably lacking air conditioning (in 90 degree weather) & I got sick.. the bus to Edinburgh broke down halfway there & we had to switch buses, etc. It was quite exhausting! Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 23:23:03 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: my scary airplane photos are finally up In a message dated 9/19/99 5:56:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time, slarvibarglhee@alloy99.freeserve.co.uk writes: :: But I have another puzzle that needs an answer. In the photo 'a more modern birthday last year - the big 3-0' why is Julia Roberts blowing out the candles on Robin's cake? :: Julia Roberts Ate My Birthday Cake! But can you blame her - it was very tasty! Robin T who *wishes* she had Ms Roberts' dimples instead of her own seemingly permament adolescent complexion... ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V4 #256 ***************************