A 747 pilot's account of how he saved his plane from crashing

Status
Not open for further replies.

thewinchester

Established Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2006
Posts
1,771
Just read it this morning, and let's say it's a gripping account of how a pilot and his crew managed to get a plane back safely after the rudder went 31 degrees hard over left.

http://jalopnik.com/5629528/how-i-saved-a-747-from-crashing
How I Saved A 747 From Crashing
By Capt. John Hanse
n

Former Northwest Airlines Capt. John Hansen flew the airline's Boeing 747 route from Detroit to Toyko for years. In 2002, the plane tried to kill him and 400 passengers. This is the never-before published story of how he saved them.

Hansen told the story in a 2006 court hearing, and the version below is his own words edited from the transcript. After taking off from Detroit in October 2002 and reaching the halfway point over the Bering Sea, Hansen and his co-pilot were retiring to the crew bunk while the other two officers took over for the remainder of the trip:
...
We got it down to taxi speed, and you could hear all four pilots exhale at the same time.

The tower said that must have been quite a ride, when you get to the gate you're going to want to go back and look at that rudder.

As I parked the airplane, I looked down and here was Sterling Benson, the Anchorage chief pilot. He told me later that as we taxied up, it was a very impressive sight because the wheels and brakes were all cherry red they were so hot.

I said to Sterling, I'd like to go down and see that rudder. And he said, oh, sure, come on, I'll take you.

It's hard to envision how big that lower rudder really is. But when you consider that the wing span of this airplane is a couple hundred feet, you can imagine that's a huge rudder. And it was impressive.

It was hard over to the left thirty-one and a half degrees by the time we landed. And there was hydraulic fluid running down the bottom of the airplane and pooling on the ramp beneath it.
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Pretty incredible... Having a rudder lock itself too far in one direction has caused many planes to fall out of the sky in the past...

Whilst most of the time I guess the "Bus Driver" tag would fit a pilot, every so often they really do show why they are paid the big bucks...
 
I wonder if actually having two rudders (upper/lower) incorporates a bit of 'fail safe' into it.

I don't think the Pilot would have been able to tell his story to the court hearing if both rudders had failed.
 
So from what I read, they couldn’t find anything wrong with the part and nothing wrong on other similar systems, but developed a way of testing without taking it to pieces?
Not at all!

... An inspection of the forged aluminum manifold of the lower rudder power control module (PCM) revealed the end portion which houses the yaw damper actuator had fractured off from the main portion of the manifold. ...
 
Not at all!

Yes, I mean other than what was wrong with it, they didn’t find anything that could have caused it. That’s what I meant sorry, obviously there would be something wrong with it.

The initial metallurgical examination of the fractured power control module by the NTSB laboratory revealed a mode of crack initiation and growth consistent with fatigue. ... The yaw damper piston was visibly protruding from the manifold, and precluded operational testing of the manifold. All the individual components of the power control module were tested, and no anomalies were found. Dimensional checks of the power control module showed no discrepancies, and metallurgical testing by the manufacturer showed the manifold was made of material consistent with the manufacturer's specification. Since a fatigue type of failure typically cannot be visually detected prior to the actual failure, a non-destructive inspection process was developed. A group of similar power control modules that were installed on other airplanes, as well as a spare unit, were inspected. The inspected group contained power control modules with higher and lower use cycles than the incident airplane's power control module. No similar fractures were found.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top