As everyone knows, the crew of Flight 1549 made a ditch landing into the Hudson that heroically saved the lives of everyone aboard. One article mentioned transporting the intact A320 by barge. If the A320 needs to moved somewhere not near a river or water body, it most likely will have to be transported by rail on flatcars, and will have to be partially disassembled and wings and tail removed since the airframe is intact? Boeing already does this with their partially-assembled airliner frames.
When the NTSB is done with it, if it is salvagable it will probably continue it's trip to Charlotte. This is where USAir's Airbus maint facility is, and NS tracks go right past the end of two of the runways.
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=35.225558~-80.935065&style=h&lvl=16&tilt=-89.8758924027046&dir=0&alt=1839.00416422077&cam=35.225525~-80.935065&scene=-1&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Vet When the NTSB is done with it, if it is salvagable it will probably continue it's trip to Charlotte. This is where USAir's Airbus maint facility is, and NS tracks go right past the end of two of the runways. http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=35.225558~-80.935065&style=h&lvl=16&tilt=-89.8758924027046&dir=0&alt=1839.00416422077&cam=35.225525~-80.935065&scene=-1&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1
The Airbus will be cut up for scrap. Once aluminum is dunked in saltwater it is useless for aircraft.
Norm
I must be getting senile. As many times as I've flown up and down the VFR exclusion there, It didn't occurred to me that the Hudson river is salt water, sometimes all the way up to Stormville.
Even if it was fresh water it would be ditched. It would cost more to re-wire plus electronics than to buy new.
Norm48327 The Airbus will be cut up for scrap. Once aluminum is dunked in saltwater it is useless for aircraft.
I guess it'll either be scrapped on-site after the NTSB is done with it, or transported to a scrap yard.
Considering the cost of moving something that big, it will likely be cut up on site. Smaller pieces are cheaper and easier to move.
I've been in the small aircraft repair business for the past 20 years. Transporting even a small one isn't cheap.
Maybe it will be hauled across the Bay into Arthur Kill to lay in waste tethered to the Jersey shore. Oh, wait, this is an airplane not a ferry boat!
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I was thinking I could catch it being lifted out of the water today on TV, but guess the prep didn't go quite as planned.
Note they have established the right engine is still attached.
Quentin
Here's what's happening with the Airbus :
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-liair0120,0,7564271.story
BTW, the Salvage firm, Weeks Marine, is known in transit circles for building artificial reefs using retired NY Subway cars...
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
This from a retired AF QC inspector who was involved in several accident investigations...
The published photos show a bird which has been SEVERELY stressed, with heavy damage to the wings and aft fuselage. That it held together and floated was a tribute to excellent construction and fantastic piloting.
Once the investigators have finished, it won't take long to reduce the entire structure to oversize confetti. Using truck-mounted shears and a front end loader the crew at Davis Monthan can reduce a much larger aircraft to a couple of dumptruck loads of aluminum scrap in a morning, with plenty of time for coffee breaks. What WILL take time is removing the fuel, hydraulic fluid, salvageable copper and such, but much of that can be done while the investigation is in progress.
Trying to recycle anything bigger or more complex than portable fire extinguishers would probably cost more than buying a like serviceable item. Trying to move the major assemblies to a different site would probably cost more than the scrap value of the parts.
Chuck
Since they are blaming the accident on a flight of Canada Geese. I have two questions can we prove the geese originated in Canada and does this mean we will mass an army along the Canadian Border?
Al - in - Stockton
passengerfanSince they are blaming the accident on a flight of Canada Geese. I have two questions can we prove the geese originated in Canada and does this mean we will mass an army along the Canadian Border? Al - in - Stockton
Another new task for the US Border patrol. Check the migratory bird's passports.
tomikawaTTThis from a retired AF QC inspector who was involved in several accident investigations... The published photos show a bird which has been SEVERELY stressed, with heavy damage to the wings and aft fuselage. That it held together and floated was a tribute to excellent construction and fantstic piloting. Once the investigators have finished, it won't take long to reduce the entire structure to oversize confetti. Using truck-mounted shears and a front end loader the crew at Davis Monthan can reduce a much larger aircraft to a couple of dumptruck loads of aluminum scrap in a morning, with plenty of time for coffee breaks. What WILL take time is removing the fuel, hydraulic fluid, salvageable copper and such, but much of that can be done while the investigation is in progress. Trying to recycle anything bigger or more complex than portable fire extinguishers would probably cost more than buying a like serviceable item. Trying to move the major assemblies to a different site would probably cost more than the scrap value of the parts. Chuck
The published photos show a bird which has been SEVERELY stressed, with heavy damage to the wings and aft fuselage. That it held together and floated was a tribute to excellent construction and fantstic piloting.
Chuck,
I'm a retired A&P/IA. Been working on small aircraft for the past thirty years, and seen a few of them dunked in fresh water that the insurance company just paid off. They were beyond cost effective repair.
Same applies to 'The Bus' and all it's avionics. For those of you not familiar with avionics (that's aviation electronics), think of dropping your cell phone in the lake. It's now 'dog food'. Electronic thingies, and aluminum, once dunked in salt water are now scrap.
Yes, fuel, hydraulic fluid and some other things will have to be taken care of before the plane is chewed up and sent to the smelter. It will be processed to the point of pure aluminum that can be recycled into other things. With proper alloying, perhaps some of it may become part of a new airplane. Every part of the plane whether aluminum, steel, or other material is now food for the scrap metal industry.
Slight tangent to this discussion:
My wife left her cell phone in a pocket and it went through a complete cycle of the washing machine. She discovered it while moving the stuff to the dryer.
We took out the battery and the sim, let it air dry for two days, charged the battery by puting it in MY cell phone before reinstalling it in hers.
It works fine to this day.
That said, I think the Airbus should be used to make a reef.
On yet another tangent:
Maybe our economy would be better if they made all their Airbuses into reefs and went back to buying AMERICAN airplanes.
passengerfan Since they are blaming the accident on a flight of Canada Geese. I have two questions can we prove the geese originated in Canada and does this mean we will mass an army along the Canadian Border? Al - in - Stockton
No, Al, but we have renamed Canadian Bacon "Liberty Bacon" and can no longer allow maple leaves on trees.
AT LAST...
A political joke that applies equally to both sides of the aisle.
But I think it would have been FREEDOM Bacon.
With all the news and discussion about the marvelous rescue of everybody on the plane, and what will become of the plane, has anybody seen anything as to when the passengers will be able to recover their possessions?
Johnny
Deggesty: As soon as the feds search all the belongings for contraban and prosecute those found and other items have no revelance to the investigation then survivors will receive them back. Bet there will be a lot of work for computer recovery firms.
For those of you who would like more information on Flight 1549, follow this link.
http://avherald.com/h?article=41370ebc/0005
The information presented there is factual and interesting to someone like me who has spent thirty years in aviation. It would be nice to have such information on train crashes, but locomotives just don't record the same parameters as commercial aircraft.
Link activated:
Thanks Paul,
I thought the software would do that.
Norm -
First, welcome to the Forum ! (just in case that hasn't been done yet)
Next - it's not rocket science - or computer science (I don't do either). Only thing I did was "[Reply]" to your message, "Quote" everything, delete all but the link/ URL itself, and then hit the "Space" bar once. Then yes, the software automatically recognized it as a link and coded it as such - blue color & underlined, cursor arrow turns into a "hand" pointer when you "mouse-over" it, etc.
WARNING: Thanks for the link. Interesting article & details. I liked the 'YouTube" video clips from the City's [security ?] cameras of Flight 1549 actually touching [splashing ?] down - looks like just another "flying boat" landing. Hey, wait as minute - there's a lot of comments and statements in various places about how they can't replicate or simulate a water ditching of a commercial jet on a training simulator. Well, why not use a flying boat - there must be a few operable ones still out there, no ? - to obtain the camera footage and flight dynamics data, etc. to input into the simulator software. How different would that be from this ? Plus, the old buzzards who flew the flying boats way "back in the day" had to learn how by actual stick time & seat-of-the-pants methods - no training simulators back then for them. Are we saying that today's pilots aren't good enough to do that ? It might be worthwhile to look into - that every commercial pilot gets a "check flight" in a flying boat every couple years or so, just to get a sense of what it feels like. Well, enough of that - I'm not a pilot, so I'll leave that for you or others to evaluate
You'd said: "It would be nice to have such information on train crashes, but locomotives just don't record the same parameters as commercial aircraft." But if you look at a full-blown NTSB report on a rail accident where the locomotive data recorder(s) were operating, they sometimes read pretty much the same - minute-by-minute and even second-by-second where that's relevant. No altitude changes or heading references though . . .
Thanks again. Hope you enjoy the exchanges as much as I do.
- Paul North.
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