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A comment on Report on Air France 447 crash deepens mystery. Parent comment

Re:Report on Air France 447 crash deepens mystery by rorrr on Saturday May 28, 2011 @03:18PM (#2595007)
Why don't they use GPS to determine the altitude and the speed? Even a $100 GPS in my car is more precise than the speedometer.
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Re:Report on Air France 447 crash deepens mystery by jwr on Saturday May 28, 2011 @03:26PM (#2595023)
GPS will give you groundspeed, not airspeed. And since you don't get lift from groundspeed, it isn't as relevant to keeping the airplane flying.
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Re:Report on Air France 447 crash deepens mystery by rationalbeats on Saturday May 28, 2011 @04:12PM (#2595115)
Example of a Cessna flying backwards lift generated by headwind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2tiaWPNamE

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Re:Report on Air France 447 crash deepens mystery by rorrr on Saturday May 28, 2011 @04:31PM (#2595159)
But it can be used to precisely determine the altitude, which is what really matters if you're about to crash or go too high and stall.
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