A340 rejected take off test flight

[britfrog 180]

This I find hilarious listening to the french , these are supposed to be test pilots putting the a/c through a maximum all up weight emergency stop from V1, it is more like the keystone cops, keep you eye on the fireman!

 

Mind you it just goes to show what energy is created by those brakes the heat must be enormous.

 

 

 

[hurricanemk1c 195]

That wasn't that successful really was it?

[Quickmarch 488]

It was hugely successful!

 

They proved that the airplane will stop. And: 

1. Full load RTO's from V1 will seriously heat up the brakes.

2. The tires can't take the heat

3. It's a good idea to have the firemen get there as soon as possible.

4. Someone should be monitoring the ground freq.

 

Anything else?

 

I can't wait to get to France - they have so much fun.

 

I wonder if they'd kept taxiing they might have cooled things down enough to prevent the tire failures? Bet it was a job clearing that mess up.

[allardjd 1,853]

Ahh, the Busboys - another Charlie Foxtrot.

 

Best line:  "It's not an important fire."  I beg to differ - ANY fire on an airplane is an important fire.

 

I'll bet they used the slides - I would have.  If you're loading an airliner for an all-up test, a lot of that weigh is likely to be fuel.  Not having an airstair on hot-standby is a serious oversight. 

 

The "explosions" were probably fusible plugs in the wheels melting out, as designed.  The fire crews should be trained to avoid being directly alongside them in any kind of landing gear fire and should have been briefed/reminded of that just before the test - they apparently were not.  The too-short length of his hose probably saved the life of the fireman in the foreground - about three or four times.  He appeared to be a slow learner.  Anyone who was not astute enough to not have expected that series of events should not have been allowed within 500 yards of the test aircraft.

 

One crew member couldn't even tell time, apparently. 

 

As for nobody monitoring ground...

 

1) The international language of ATC is supposed to be English.  Maybe the guy monitoring ground was making the point that they needed to follow the rule and was silently refusing to answer until they asked in English.  The French are capable of that kind of stunt - it's the reverse of the French waiter pretending to not understand the patron attempting to order in English.

 

2) Did 121.5 never occur to them, or can't they count that high?  They do monitor 121.5 in France, right?

 

The good news, as Quickmarch points out, is that the brakes stopped the aircraft.  I noted a very minimal excursion off the centerline - maybe four or five feet and very brief.  That's good.  I suspect moving slowly after a panic stop is probably a good practice to get some air flow over the wheels and brakes and maybe keep the heat from propagating directly upward.  Not sure what their test procedure called for (not sure they knew either) but that seemed like a good idea as long speed is kept low enough that no further braking is required.

 

I also noted no indication of any tire failures during the initial stop, which says a lot for the anti-lock braking system in general.  I don' know what V1 was for the test but it was a LONG time after the call of 100, though that was probably in KM/hr.

 

The test success criteria probably called for no intervention by the fire protection people within a certain time.  The fire people probably were briefed to not ruin the test by getting nervous and spraying the gear prematurely or unnecessarily.  That fireman was obviously on the horns of a dilemma - he had indecision written all over him - and probably had a glimmer of understanding that water in the wrong place too soon could ruin the test.

 

You really could sell tickets to this kind of thing.

 

John

 

 

 

 

[britfrog 180]

I thought you would like that one John!

Just to clarify a few points that you have raised , to be an atco in france you have to be able to understand and give directions in english, not necessarily speak it fluently, From my experience of flying here 90% of the time when arriving near a smaller regional airfield/airport one declared ones intentions  and received them in French, However I have also flown into their major airports where the majority is conducted in English to find airfrance or similar conducting it akk between him and the atco in French. It is one of the reasons the brits like the French they stand up forthemselves and are proud of whom they are.

 

I dont think 121.5 in this situ would have been appropriate as that will be monitored by the atc center probably near Paris .

 

However I agree with you and the tyre plugs and I think the basic test was a success , they were clearly counting out the time expecting the plugs to go bang , why they didnt continue taxiing to cool the wheels? maybe they had already done that test at another time and this time wanted to see what happened if  it was a real world situ and they needed to stop the plane and perhaps start an evacuation so they needed to know the danger to the public.

I did notice a firetruck off to the side who didnt get out so perhaps they were well drilled to approach from the front, and the way he jumped ,  when they go bang , it is a pretty big bang

But an interesting vid none the less

[allardjd 1,853]

Thanks, bf. Good video, anyway. Speculating about the other aspects is just too tempting to resist. As you noted, the Keystone Cops would have been proud. The only thing missing was one of those circus fire engines with 27 clowns emerging.

 

John

[Quickmarch 488]

I wondered about the slide aspect. Even DC3's were equipped with a knotted rope in case it was necessary to go out the cockpit hatch. On a test that must have cost mega-Euros, repacking a slide would have been a small additional cost. Maybe the pilots know something about slides that the airlines aren't telling us.

 

Thanks JA, I'd forgotten about the fusibles. That seems something that could be shielded or at least channelled in a non-dangerous direction. I know little about the gear assemblies on large commercial a/c, but what little I do know leaves me questioning what was there to burn. Obviously the tires and maybe some brake lines/fluids. If they're using magnesium wheels I can see them going up as well - quite spectacular if that happens. 

 

A company I worked for way back near the dawn of time (my first job as a matter of fact) used magnesium for filter-end molds. These were machined to spec in a local machine shop. That shop refused to do any more for us after they darn near burned the place down when a three foot diameter mold lit up in the lathe. Very unreasonable IMHO. Obviously they were trying to machine it too quickly.

 

I like the observation that they may have been curious as to what the outcome might be if it was necessary to stop the a/c. There is not always lots of room to go taxiing about while the brakes cool down. It would give them a timeline from full stop to fire emergency. Quite a dangerous situation as there is no way they would have time to evacuate an a/c. The information would be more valuable to the fire response teams.

[allardjd 1,853]

I wonder if that test was during certification of the aircraft?  It may have been quite an old video.  Stopping performance from V1 is probably a requirement of some kind and in any event they probably needed some empirical data for the POH, etc. 

 

Can you imagine this test or the real event in the A380 and the possibility of having to evacuate 500+ people into the vicinity of burning tires and maybe fusible plugs blowing out?  That would get the old adrenaline flowing, wouldn't it?

 

John 

[brett 2,310]

Interesting to watch to say the least. Nothing like PPP

[allardjd 1,853]

Yeah, they didn't understand the Seven Ps of Performance.

 

John

[britfrog 180]

I wonder if that test was during certification of the aircraft?  It may have been quite an old video.  Stopping performance from V1 is probably a requirement of some kind and in any event they probably needed some empirical data for the POH, etc. 

 

Can you imagine this test or the real event in the A380 and the possibility of having to evacuate 500+ people into the vicinity of burning tires and maybe fusible plugs blowing out?  That would get the old adrenaline flowing, wouldn't it?

 

John 

 

couldn't agree more about the clowns especially when you saw the pathetic amount of water that came out of the hose.

 

Yes an emergency stop from V1 at max all up weight is a certification requirement, you must remember in most large a/c the maximum take off weight greatly exceeds its maximum landing weight hence the requirement to dump fuel.

Also a thing worth noting is both boeing and airbus stipulate that if you have a tireburst or several tirebursts  on tthe akeoff run you must continue the takeoff. this is for 2 reasons 1 you have already seen and he had all good tyres at the start of the braking sequence, and the second reason is there is a real chance that you may have an undercarriage fire what better way of dealing with it than blowing wind at it at 200 knots? that cools things down as well as you so you can prepare an arrival.

[GHAO 0]

Fire underneath the aircraft (and I assume underneath the fuel tanks?) - and they bring water pistols?