PSA CRJ-700 AA midair collision

derg said:
I’ve been on Japanese television, a Japanese radio, a commercial, a Spanish/French Skyteam commercial, the film “The Steepest Climb”, a bevvy of various media advertisements and filming my third featured video for SouthernJets this month.

I think I’m OK in the over-exposure department.
Click to expand...
Ok, but have you flown for Alaska or abandoned Kristie alone at a cruise ship terminal? He's not impressed.
 
Last edited:
Question to anyone in the know (@MikeD perhaps?): Does the FDR record pressure altitude AND indicated altitude or just one or the other? I know the ATC radar (and your mode C) use pressure altitude only and then the radar computer adjusts what ATC sees based on the local altimeter.
 
GolfChuck said:
Question to anyone in the know (@MikeD perhaps?): Does the FDR record pressure altitude AND indicated altitude or just one or the other? I know the ATC radar (and your mode C) use pressure altitude only and then the radar computer adjusts what ATC sees based on the local altimeter.
Click to expand...

Pressure altitude, radar altitude information, and what the displays were indicating, especially in glass cockpit aircraft. Used to be a bit more difficult to tie-in with round dial aircraft with indicated values. But easy to record these with glass cockpits. Plus, the radar data and any ADSB data, would all correlate with one another.
 
MikeD said:
Pressure altitude, radar altitude information, and what the displays were indicating, especially in glass cockpit aircraft. Used to be a bit more difficult to tie-in with round dial aircraft with indicated values. But easy to record these with glass cockpits. Plus, the radar data and any ADSB data, would all correlate with one another.
Click to expand...
I guess with steam gauges if the altimeter is recovered they could reasonably connect the altimeter setting vs. the actual altimeter reading at the time. One of the first things on the checklist after an incident is to get a contemporaneous weather observation.
 
I know nothing about UH60s, what are the odds they had the wrong pressure in the altimeter? Presumably it has a radar altimeter, is that only active below a certain altitude or flight regime?
 
GolfChuck said:
I guess with steam gauges if the altimeter is recovered they could reasonably connect the altimeter setting vs. the actual altimeter reading at the time. One of the first things on the checklist after an incident is to get a contemporaneous weather observation.
Click to expand...

Yes, assuming the instrument survived in the wreckage, there’d be a reading right there, both indicated as well as what’s set in the Kollsman window by the pilot. The instrument would be taken apart to check for any damage that would affect indicated altitude. And if good, that then can be correlated/confirmed with outside altitude readouts. In this case, the M model -60 would be a glass cockpit bird.

These days, with ADSB and what the DFDR records, knowing what the altimeter instrument or the glass cockpit indication was showing, is more for confirming what the pilot would have been seeing, versus where the aircraft was actually at, altitude-wise. With so much outside correlating data, determining the altitude the aircraft was at is much easier than in the old days when a cockpit instrument was relied on for that information.
 
FlyingAccountant said:
I know nothing about UH60s, what are the odds they had the wrong pressure in the altimeter? Presumably it has a radar altimeter, is that only active below a certain altitude or flight regime?
Click to expand...

The RADALT starts indicating far higher than what they were cruising at, at the time. And with the area being near sea level, baro altitude and RADLT are nearly the same. From where the -60 came from, I would imagine the crew would’ve gotten an altimeter setting at least two or three times, whether from an ATIS or from ATC telling them one, much less hearing ATC telling someone else one.
 
HeyEng said:
I am getting more and more curious about the altitudes. The METAR at the time of the accident indicated that the pressure was rapidly rising. I don't recall how much it had gone up from the last METAR or what baro the Blackhawk had set. Not that it would have made a HUGE difference if was set incorrectly, but 25 feet here, then 25 feet there, another 25 feet just because and then...co-altitude.
Click to expand...
I do not recall seeing the PRSRR in the metar but I believe you. If this is the case (and Local was following procedure) then the altimeter would have been given by tower to everyone checking on frequency, so like once every 30 sec to a minute probably. Might explain the helicopters altitude being all over the place.
 
GolfChuck said:
I do not recall seeing the PRSRR in the metar but I believe you. If this is the case (and Local was following procedure) then the altimeter would have been given by tower to everyone checking on frequency, so like once every 30 sec to a minute probably. Might explain the helicopters altitude being all over the place.
Click to expand...

It’s also very easy to merely drift +/- a couple hundred feet in altitude and not notice. Not normally minus, as low this sector altitude is for the route, but definitely plus I could see. Normally, this wouldn’t be any kind of an issue at all. But in this particular choke point when someone is descending to land for RW 33 and crossing that part of the helo route nearly co-altitude for a normal 3 degree glide path, it would be an issue indeed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top