Adam I Am

Pilot, with broad experience in many other fields & industries. Support rural Australia, farmers & primary industry as a whole. Support free thinking/speech.

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

This is largely bullshit for this aircraft type at that altitude. The 60 is certified for 51,000ft (not that you ever go there, but that’s what it is certified to).

Routinely, they operate 40,000ft to 43,000 ft.

The above chart is the buffet boundary chart from the flight manual.

20000lb gross weight (although I’d suspect they would’ve been lighter than that). FL350 1.0 g load factor. There’s about a 160kt window between high and low speed buffet. In other words, the “corner” in coffin corner at that altitude is a massive arc, not a corner at all! Roughly M.54 to M.81

BUT…

Severe turbulence could easily double the load factor… THEN this results in an elevated low speed buffet boundary of up to M.71-M.72.

Turbulence penetration speed is Mach .73, which is what I’d imagine they would’ve been flying in the turbulence they were experiencing.

So, not a lot of margin in turbulence. This is not the stall speed, though… but it’s in the neighborhood.

Ice accretion is the unknown. Who knows what those numbers are, but as a general rule, low speed buffet/stall increases with ice.

Had they aerodynamically stalled, they should’ve been able to recover, in the first 5-10 thousand feet, but it didn’t sound like they had any pitch authority to even slow their descent.

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

And she’s the FO, not the Captain… he’s the ultimate decision-maker, has vastly more experience and holds the primary responsibility for the safety of the aircraft and all onboard.

As a parent, losing your daughter… hearing her final moments and knowing the unqualified, uninformed backlash is out there, directed mostly at her, would be heartbreaking.

In a multi-crew environment, you share the responsibility, but it’s not really 50/50.

I’ve flown with male pilots who were incompetent and female pilots who were brilliant, so gender should not even come into the equation. Too young? Well, she’s more experienced than cadet pilots flying high capacity airliners… not to mention, fighter pilots are flying fighter jets, at similar age… It really comes back the extent and quality of their training, operational culture, and/or complacency. If I’m honest, training in the US could be better.

I’ve had a 40-year former airline pilot, as an instructor, tell me he never knew about certain weather-related knowledge points, until he started teaching the ATP CTP course… a course that is very very basic, by international comparisons… and that was only implemented after the Colgan Air crash.

In summary, there are many factors that lead to these things. Singling out one person, without facts, doesn’t help anyone. And let’s be honest, if this happened in a limo crash on the ground, with the same fatal outcome, there would be very limited attention to any of the details.

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

Icing is a threat to all aircraft. But supercooled water droplets is the most severe, because of rapid accretion. Most flight manuals will state that the only measure against that, is to leave those conditions ASAP.

When your controls aren’t working, because of that ice, then there’s not much you can do. And if they subsequently lost their stabilizer, then it’s all over. In a very high overspeed, aerodynamic characteristics will also make it unrecoverable,

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

Sometimes they can be masked, depending on what range you have selected on your radar and what tilt. And to be honest… sometimes they just don’t work that well, in these machines… the Lears have a very skinny nose cone, and therefore a small, narrow radar antenna and associated beam.

ATC is usually pretty good in the US, at giving weather info… but given that it was pretty crap, all around, it was likely stating the obvious and not practical.

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

The 60 is commonly flown between FL400 and FL450, while I’ve only flown the LR45 in this class, I’ve never heard of -or seen- a “coffin corner” in a business jet, like you see in airliners… some speed limitations, yes, but not narrow high/low speed buffet limits. Again, I have flown the Lear family (and other types), but not the 60… but have flown with many people that have flown both, and no one has ever mentioned that as a feature or concern.

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

@svan81 @desitechsuppoat @BillAckman Yes, my apologies… you’re 100% right. I thought the Lear 75 was the first in the Lear family to have FADEC. My mistake, sorry!

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

@svan81 @desitechsuppoat @BillAckman Definitely no FADEC in a 60…

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

@svan81 @desitechsuppoat @BillAckman No FADEC in a 60.

No anti ice in the horizontal stabilizer, either…

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

Errhhh… I dunno… I suspect that the absence of effective anti icing on the horizontal stabilizer, to combat super cooled water droplets may have rendered the pitch authority ineffective. Without pitch authority (stalled stab) it’s going to pitch into a sharp descent, with the pax & fuel load it had.

I would be surprised if it went into Mach tuck at FL350… nowhere near its limiting altitude, despite the ice… but it’s not out of the question. At climb power with anti ice on at FL350, it’s pumping out a lot of bleed air into the wing leading edges, as well, so anti ice would’ve been at its peek…

Personally, my guess is that in trying to recover, the crew have full back stick and/or stab trim, but due to the ice, it’s doing nothing… until, the electric heat and airspeed sheds that ice in a significant descent & overspeed condition, causing instantaneous stab/elevator control input and instantaneous failure of the entire stab or the jack screw. (By the sound of her voice, something else happened at the first instance she reports descent at 22000fpm…) who knows.

Terrible, terrible situation, whatever the case. Very sad for all parties! As a pilot, it’s very confronting listening to that audio. I Can’t begin to imagine what the families and ATC guy would be going through, right now.

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

The Lear 60 doesn’t have anti icing measures on it’s horizontal stabilizer (T-tail). If that iced up and stalled they would’ve lost pitch authority, and gone nose down.

A non-flying (stalled) stab would likely not have failed in that condition. However, pilot reaction is going to be full back elevator and/or trim. If they shed the ice in their overspeed condition, that sudden control input would’ve cause immediate failure and been unrecoverable.

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

Although they said they were “managing the icing” they then encountered precipitation. At that altitude and temperature that is called “super cooled large droplets” and is extremely hazardous. Also, the Lear 60 has NO horizontal stabilizer anti icing, like the wings do… I suspect they lost pitch authority when they initiated the climb -essentially a stalled horizontal stabilizer/elevator- and with no pitch control it would be nose down, instantly.

Pilot inputs would be nose up elevator and/or trim. IF they shed the ice in their overspeed condition, the sudden control input would likely have cause a horizontal stabilizer failure, and consequent unrecoverable descent.

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

@Peter_Fitz If Mosman Pete says it’s great, it’s bad… it’s REALLY fucking bad! Mosman Pete, the North-shore Castro… pining for socialist, one-dimensional ‘leaders’ that know nothing, aside from ideology alone. But that’s ok because they SOUND ok.

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

@QuentinDempster Another one dimensional, elitist germalist, hyperventilating and appealing to people’s fear and emotions…! Same playbook as Covid and vaccinations, just different subject matter! Don’t trust these fuckwits, and the many others like them… they don’t give a damn about you

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

@TJam1972 @FOXNRL 30+ seconds of shoulder direct to neck/head. Ponga gets cut behind the ear and old mate cut above the eye… have a think about where the shoulder is in that setup… send off every day of the week.

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

@papajasepi @LOFTYKAY @FOXNRL

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

@Peter_Fitz And if you believe that, you are a moron!

Firstly, what tree grows these supersized wind turbines, for them to be “emissions free” in your mind??

Secondly, if the claims ARE actually true… which they certainly wouldn’t be, because… China… that’s bacically a unit block there

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

@QuentinDempster “Market Driven”… remove the billions In subsidies, grants and all of the other grift from renewables, and it’s dead, tomorrow. Likewise, remove the penalties and restrictions on anything “carbon” or “nuclear” and we won’t ever have a fuel or energy crisis either. Total Fuckwit!

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

@PaulBongiorno @RossCameron4 And where is the power supply coming from to charge these vehicles, retard? Have you any idea on the draw required to charge the batteries of “heavy transport”… or does everyone have to turn off their air conditioners so that we can charge our trucks? STFU you have zero clue!

[Adam I Am @AdamMCMLXXVII]

@cheryl_kernot I’d rather a regime change in Australia… and so say most of us, too… but given Kernot bonked her way into the ALP in the early 2000’s she’s unlikely to support THAT opinion, now, is she…?