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A comment on I was there when the DC-8 went supersonic. Parent comment

Re:I was there when the DC-8 went supersonic by throwthere on Sunday August 22, 2021 @08:41AM (#28264993)
Autopilot malfunction is too charitable to the pilots. From wiki, "Investigators believed that 727 pilots (in general, and this flight specifically) were setting the trailing edge flaps to two degrees during high altitude cruise, while at the same time pulling the circuit breaker for the slats so that they would not activate."

The captain denied that, but who can believe him? He erased 21 minutes out of 30 minutes recorded from the cockpit voice recorder.

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Re:I was there when the DC-8 went supersonic by LeonM on Sunday August 22, 2021 @09:03AM (#28265143)
> He erased 21 minutes out of 30 minutes recorded from the cockpit voice recorder.

The investigation never concluded this.

In a deposition taken by the Safety Board, the captain stated that he usually activates the bulk-erase feature on the CVR at the conclusion of each flight to preclude inappropriate use of recorded conversations. However, in this instance, he could not recall having done so.

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Re:I was there when the DC-8 went supersonic by throwthere on Sunday August 22, 2021 @09:09AM (#28265180)
Are we talking about the same investigation?

The NTSB made the following statement in the accident report:

We believe the captain's erasure of the CVR is a factor we cannot ignore and cannot sanction.

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Re:I was there when the DC-8 went supersonic by WalterBright on Sunday August 22, 2021 @02:26PM (#28268074)
Airplane accident causes are often complicated. I was told the story by my lead in helping me to understand separation. The reason for the dive was not germane, he just said autopilot malfunction.

Probably the funnest part about working in engineering at Boeing was hearing all the war stories from the previous generation.

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