Virgin Australia ATR72 lucky it hit a bird

[_BlackHawk_]

http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-up ... 6952077760

Not sure how the damage was missed in the initial inspection, but damn, they're lucky they hit that bird and the damage was found.

[Capt NG]

I'm not going to get involved with this one Brad, only because I'm not allowed to comment on the nuts and bolts of these things due social media policy and I'm an investigator now as well as an operating Captain. Suffice to say there is allot more to the story.

What I won't tolerate though is any malicious or libel comments referring to the issue. By all means read the story and chat amongst others, speculate as you will, but for now, professional investigators are involved that know allot more and when finished will release a comprehensive report containing all the facts. And these guys know allot more than you and others.

For those that also want to come out and give their " two bob" worth ( probably not so much on this site, but that other mob ).. Remember one saying.." There but for the grace of god go I"..

[_BlackHawk_]

I have no doubt there is more to the story.

[hrtpaul]

I'm tipping there'll be an engineer or 2 getting in the shit me thinks.

[tor lives]

Couple of things to remember with this issue:
Firstly, while the aircraft may carry VA titles it is actually operated by SkyWest, so let's not go into "Virgin-bashing" mode.

Secondly, it is never prudent, appropriate, or wise to make any comment on issues of this nature until the trained, qualified investigators have done their job, completed their investigation, and published their findings in the public domain, (not that anyone here has done that).

Finally, a "Just Culture" approach should always be applied to these sorts of events.....and that means not immediately adopting a punitive approach and pointing the (unqualified) finger of blame, (not that anyone here has done that).
TOR

[Capt NG]

Well said Ray...

[Adam the Akrodude]

Wow and phew! Questions -
Fascinating that the pitch control is capable of operating this way - each side independently in this case. Am I reading this right, one elevator up, one down at one point? Is there no common link/torque tube/whatever between each side of the elevator on the ATR? Would differential elevator also generate a roll component?

Damage to controls is a terrifying thing. I once found 2 of the 3 "U" brackets that hold on the rudder of the Laser damaged, one completely split and one half gone. Had I not found this and gone out and done some snaps, I could very well have lost the rudder - result, silk decent if I had been lucky enough to get out. Know a guy who lost rudder control doing a vertical snap in a Yak-50 luckily on a up line. If it had been on a downtime, he would have died.

Control damage is serious stuff. Lessons will be learnt from this and lives saved.

Big phew this was found before anything worse occurred.

[hrtpaul]

In the Dash 8 there is a clutch to prevent this sort of thing happening. Mind you the back end of a Dash isn't composite either. Surely the ATR has a similar system to prevent this