BeCA.

28 October 2004

200

Presented by

Capt. Jacques ROSAY Airbus Chief Test Pilot

Baghdad A300 Incident Discussion

DHL flight hit by missile in BAGHDAD TRIBUTE TO ERIC, STEEVE AND MARIO

TRIBUTE TO ERIC, STEEVE AND MARIO

The facts How could it fly ?
Flight

mechanics with thrust only

pitch control roll control

Bringing the A/C back to the ground Conclusion

THE FACTS
November 22nd, 2003. An A300-B4 cargo-transformed, S/N
094, operated by DHL, takes off from Baghdad to Bahrain.

Crew : Capt ERIC, F/O STEEVE, FE MARIO. Trip is short, payload is light (Mail) and TOW : 100t (to be
compared to 165.9t MTOW)

A special Take Off procedure is applied to minimize ground

proximity time and threat exposure duration :
Take

off with slats only and maximum thrust Early retraction of slats Climb at optimum climb speed (215kts)

THE FACTS (continue)

Passing 8000ft, a strong impact shakes the structure. Immediately, Mario announces the loss of two hydraulic
circuits (green and yellow).

Twenty seconds later, Eric feels the controls stiffening as

the last hydraulic circuit (blue) is lost.

THE FACTS (continue)

A/C configuration is then the following : All hydraulics lost
rudder and elevators are floating in the wind (zero hinge moment) THS is frozen Spoilers are inoperative and prevented to deflect (sucked by the airflow) by a non return valve. But one of them is slightly leaking. Slats and flaps configuration are retracted and frozen Left wing in fire and associated fuel tank is emptying A significative amount of the left wing surface is missing
Ailerons,

BUT:
BOTH ENGINES ARE STILL RUNNING

THE FACTS (continue)

THE FACTS (continue)

Eric, Steeve and Mario had then to learn how to fly and
land an asymmetric aircraft using the only thrust control

Lets do the same

How could it fly ?

Flight mechanics with thrust only : pitch

 From

a trimmed position, an A/C like the A300 (with underwing engine) will react to a step change of thrust with :
An immediate pitch change (increase of thrust induces a nose up motion) An immediate speed change along with the thrust change (but it will not last !)

How could it fly ?

This is followed by a so called phugoid (long period lightly damped
oscillation at constant angle of attack, exchanging altitude and speed around the stabilised condition)

Pitch

, Vc

Pitch

, Vc

Pitch Pitch , Vc

, Vc

How could it fly ?

When the controls froze, A/C was stabilized at a certain speed, with a
given thrust and a given THS position A thrust variation (decrease) will create a pitch (down) moment

This pitch down motion will continue until : The thrust is restored at the adequate level, or The speed has increased sufficiently so that the down lift of the
tailplane compensates the pitch down moment created by the reduction of thrust.

How could it fly ?

To sum up :
THE

THRUST BECOMES A PITCH CONTROL

Speed becomes a consequence of the chosen combination of pitch and thrust.

Note that against intuition (and initial reaction), a thrust reduction will finally induce a speed increase and vice versa.

How could it fly ? Flight mechanics with thrust only : roll

In normal flight with no sideslip, lift is symmetrical.

The only way to control the lateral axis is the use of assymetric thrust

How could it fly ?

Increasing the thrust on one engine, will first generate sideslip

How could it fly ?

The sideslip will induce asymmetric lift; this asymmetric lift will allow to generate some bank, but with a delayed response of the A/C

With left sideslip (more thrust on left engine), the airplane yaws, then rolls to the right.

How could it fly ?

On top of it, in their case, the aircraft was in an evolutive assymetry (Surface missing, airfoil modified, massive fuel leak on the left wing). It then had a permanent tendancy to roll, evolving as the fuel leaks and probably wing parts fly away. Globally, the roll remained contained during two minutes, without any roll-specific crew action, between 12 right and 22 left, final stabilized state. Two minutes after the explosion, the crew had to cope with the final assymetry with some permanent sideslip.

How does it fly ?

Summary:
Symmetrical

change of thrust on both engines will allow to control pitch and then vertical speed. But pitch control will be loose due to the phugod, making slope visualisation very difficult. Thrust being used for pitch control cannot then be used for speed control. Speed must be accepted as an uncontrolled result of the desired slope. When controlling the flight path, the crew will then have to accept the resulting speed and to control the slope through an active control of the pitch via the thrust .
Assymetrical

thrust application will allow to control the roll, but with a delayed response of the aircraft. A/C control is achievable, but (at the least) demanding

Therefore,

Bring the A/C to the ground

First they managed to control the pitch, extending the

landing gear to limit the speed increase. At this time the A/C was more or less stabilized in slight turn.

Then they learned to control the roll, going through some

roll excursions beyond 30.

Bring the A/C to the ground

Having learned to manage the flight path, the crew

decided to attempt the landing.

Additionally the left wing was on fire and there was a fuel
leak! It was time to come back and land.

THE FACTS (continue)

Bring the A/C to the ground

They elected runway 33R, the longest of the 2 runways. The wind was 290 at 20kt with turbulent conditions ! After some kind of downwind leg, they came back for long
final in a right turn (although the aircraft was tending to roll left by itself).

In addition to the flight path, they closely monitored the left

tank, ready to open the crossfeed, despite the leak and the fire. It was vital for the engine to stay alive !

Bring the aircraft to the ground

Approximate trajectory

Missile hit

Basic principles understood

Bring the A/C to the ground

Finally the 33L was closer at the end of the approach The crew flew the A/C down to the flare, coping with the
phugod, the asymmetry in roll and the Xwind 25 min after missile impact, the A/C was landed (NOT crashed): On the runway 33L, with a controlled touch down (Vz below 10ft/s), a positive pitch With some divergent heading (8) and some bank to the right (10)

Successful landing on 33L

Runway exit

Thrust reversers were used

Bring the A/C to the ground

A/C exited the runway rapidely; reversers associated to rolling in the sand
provided a good substitute to poor brake efficiency. The A/C stopped after 1000m roll out.

Bring the A/C to the ground

Disregarding some light damage on the landing gear (deflated
tyres), aircraft was intact (but for the wing !)

No injuries for the crew or people on ground

Conclusion
Adaptation and tasks prioritization were the key of the
success.

The basic tasks distribution were still applied: FLY NAVIGATE COMMUNICATE MONITOR THE SYSTEMS

Conclusion

Each such situation is unique and cannot be trained for in

advance.

In this particular case, the following basic principles apply:

Pitch is controlled by thrust Speed MUST be DISREGARDED (provided vertical speed is
controlled)

Roll is controlled by differential thrust with considerable time

response

DO NOT RETARD thrust at flare

Conclusion

In terms of airmanship, Eric, Steeve & Mario had done a emarkable job

They managed the priorities

They worked as a Team

They shared properly the work :

FLY NAVIGATE COMMUNICATE MONITOR

Well done Mario, Eric, Steeve! You really did write a nice page of aviation history!

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