Breaking News Thread

[socalrappy700]

bye bye Air France.

[Flynbyu]

That aircraft has a minimum of four airspeed indicators, two digital, two analog fed by the pitot (pee-toe) static tubes. GPS can be used to determine the speed of the aircraft as well.

The pitot-static tube is a pressure measurement instrument used to measure fluid flow velocity.....If there opening is covered, you will not get an airspeed reading on analog gauges. The sensors that dechiper and convert the dynamic pressure to an airspeed are critical. I have flown with my pitot clogged by a bug once, and the only way I could tell my approximate speed was by listening to the engine and the whistle of the air going around the aircraft. Pretty spooky landing....I had to make sure I had enough speed when landing. I was caught in ground effect for 1000 feet before touching down so I estimate I was 10-15 knots faster than I should have been landing.



~Brian

[Peelz]

You sound like the instructional videos I bought to study.

[DECEPTiON21]

I didn't read the whole article, but they were cruising around 30k feet.If autopilot decreased the engine power because of a jacked pitot tube, they would start losing altitude. If they started losing altitude, the pilot should have been able to notice, and therefore increase engine power, right? Seems simple, but flying isnt easy and i wasnt in the cockpit so i cant say what happened...

[disco]

But losing altitude in a storm, you probably have zero visibility so you'd never know it.  Read on another site, a guy said he can track his $199 iPhone so why doesn't a multi-million dollar airplane have the same capability?  Also read finding this plane wasn't like finding a needle in a haystack, it's like trying to find a needle in a hayfield. 

I feel for the families.

[DECEPTiON21]

The plane has an altimeter. These pilots had to be instrument rated right?

[disco]

That's what I don't understand.  Don't these planes have radio altimeters?  I'm no pilot but if your instruments can't be trusted for airspeed, keep your throttles forward.  You won't fall out of the sky at a high throttle setting.  Watch the artificial horizon and keep it level till you're out of the storm.  I doubt you can over speed in level flight.

Last I read the plane is believed to to have broken up at altitude.  That must have been a heck of a storm.  *cough* flyboeing *cough*  Didn't the 777 pass it's wing stress certifications on the first try and Airbus had a hard time with them?

[Krandall]

Divers find large tail section from Air France jet

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090608/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/brazil_plane


RECIFE, Brazil – Brazilian divers found a large tail section from an Air France jet on Monday, one of the biggest pieces yet recovered from wreckage that is helping narrow the search for Flight 447's black boxes. A U.S. Navy team is bringing in high-tech underwater listening devices to detect pings from the data and voice recorders.

Brazilian and French military ships that have so far recovered 16 bodies and large amounts of plane wreckage searched amid a sea of floating debris, finding the tail section with Air France's trademark red and blue stripes.

Brazilian military officials reduced the number of recovered bodies from the 17 announced Sunday, saying there had been a counting error.

What caused the Airbus A330 to crash May 31 with 228 people on board will remain a mystery unless searchers can locate the plane's black box flight data and voice recorders, likely buried deep in the middle of the ocean.

Two U.S. Navy devices that can detect emergency beacons to a depth of 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) are being flown to Brazil with a Navy team, according to the Pentagon. They will be delivered to ships that will then listen for transmissions from the black boxes, which are programmed to emit signals for at least 30 days.

Sixteen bodies were recovered Saturday and Sunday about 45 miles (70 kilometers) from where the jet sent out messages signaling electrical failures and loss of cabin pressure.

Authorities also announced that searchers spotted two airplane seats and debris with Air France's logo, and recovered dozens of structural components from the plane. They had already recovered jet wing fragments, and said hundreds of personal items believed to from passengers were plucked from the water.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his nation's military would do all it can to retrieve bodies and return them to relatives.

"We know how significant it is for a family to recover their loved one," Silva said Monday on his weekly radio show. He added: "During this painful time it's not going to resolve the problem, but it is an immense comfort to know they can bury their loved ones."

France is leading the investigation into the cause of the crash, while Brazilian officials are focusing on the recovery of victims and wreckage from Flight 447, which likely broke up in midair in turbulent weather the night of May 31 en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

French military spokesman Christophe Prazuck said the nuclear attack submarine Emeraude would arrive at the scene later this week and "will try to find the acoustic pings emitted by the black box."

The Ventose, a French military frigate, arrived Sunday and is now under Brazil command, Prazuck said. That ship has found and brought aboard seven of the 17 bodies of victims discovered so far, and about 30 pieces of debris that "most probably come from the plane," Prazuck said.

A French navy ship, the Mistral, is headed to the site, he said, and the oceanographic survey ship Pourquoi Pas, equipped with deep-water unmanned subs, is also en route and will try to retrieve the black box.

The search is focusing on a zone of several hundred square miles (square kilometers) roughly 400 miles (640 kilometers) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha islands off Brazil's northern coast.

Brazilian authorities have refused to release the precise coordinates of where they are looking, except to say the area lies southeast of the last jet transmission and could have indicated the pilot was trying to turn around in mid-flight and head back to the islands.

The investigation is increasingly focused on whether external instruments on the Airbus A330 may have iced over, confusing speed sensors and leading computers to set the plane's speed too fast or slow — a potentially deadly mistake.

The French agency investigating the disaster said airspeed instruments on the plane had not been replaced as the maker had recommended, but cautioned that it was too early to draw conclusions about what role that may have played in the crash.

The agency, BEA, said the plane received inconsistent airspeed readings from different instruments as it struggled in a massive thunderstorm.

Munhoz and Brazilian Navy Capt. Giucemar Tabosa Cardoso declined to comment on the condition of the bodies, saying that information would be too emotionally painful for relatives.

Neither would authorities immediately identify hundreds of personal items that have been recovered. Relatives of the victims were devastated by an announcement Saturday that a laptop computer and briefcase containing a plane ticket had been found.

"We don't want to cause them more suffering," Munhoz said.

The bodies and plane wreckage were being transported by Brazilian and French ships and should arrive Tuesday at the Fernando de Noronha islands, where the military has set up a staging post for the search operation. From there, remains and debris will be taken to the northeastern coastal city of Recife for identification.

Meanwhile, friends and family remembered geologist Michael Prince Harris and his wife, Anne Debaillon Harris — the only U.S. citizens on the plane — in a memorial service Sunday in Lafayette, Louisiana.

The couple had lived in Lafayette before moving to Houston and then Brazil.

The Pentagon has said there are no signs that terrorism was involved in the crash. French officials have also said there are no signs, but that terrorism has not been ruled out. Brazil's defense minister said the possibility wasn't considered.

[Krandall]

Peelz and Preddy rejoice!!!
http://ermahgerd.yahoo.com/news/adam-lambert-finally-confirms-i-m-gay/23594?nc
Adam Lambert Finally Confirms: "I'm Gay"

Matthew Rolston for Rolling StoneUs Magazine Adam Lambert finally confirms his sexuality in the new issue of Rolling Stone (on stands tomorrow).

"I don't think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I'm gay," the American Idol runner-up says.


"I'm proud of my sexuality," continues the rocker, who was photographed holding hands with interior designer Drake LaBry earlier this month. "I embrace it. It's just another part of me."


But Lambert, 27, from San Diego -- who performed Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" on the Idol finale -- says he's not the poster boy for gay rights.

"I'm trying to be a singer, not a civil rights leader," he tells RS contributor Vanessa Grigoriadis.


Lambert admits that he was nervous about coming out while Idol was still on the air because contestants are under a media embargo, and he wanted to do it on his "own terms." (He also says producers were open to him handling it however he wanted to.)

"I was worried that [coming out] would be so sensationalized that it would overshadow what I was there to do, which was sing," Lambert tells the mag. "I'm an entertainer, and who I am and what I do in my personal life is a separate thing. it shouldn't matter. Except it does. It's really confusing."


Lambert credits the FOX reality show with helping him gain self confidence.

"I finally checked into my self-worth for the first time in my life, and the fact that it coincided with Idol is so sweet," he says. "I mean, I still have moments where I think, 'Oh, my skin is terrible, and I'm a little fat -- I should really go to the gym more.' But for the most part, when I look in the mirror now, I finally see somebody who can do something cool."

For more details on which Idol Lambert is attracted to, how he came out to his family, and what was going through his head when those photos of him in drag hit the web mid-season, pick up the newest issue of Rolling Stone, on stands Wednesday.

[Krandall]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090609/ap_on_re_us/us_missile_hooked
Fla. fisherman hooks live missile in Gulf waters


MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – Florida authorities say a commercial fisherman reeled in a live missile in the Gulf of Mexico and kept it on his boat for 10 days.

The sheriff's office in Pinellas County say the boat's captain, Rodney Soloman, hooked the air-to-air guided missile 50 miles off the Panhandle town of Panama City. The Air Force and Navy use Gulf waters off the Panhandle for weapons training.

Soloman had the missile aboard his boat for 10 days before returning Monday to port in Madeira Beach, near St. Petersburg.

A bomb squad was called in from MacDill Air Force Base and dismantled the missile in an empty parking lot.

The bomb squad said the missile was very corroded from floating in saltwater for a long time. They said it was live and in a very unstable state.

[Hefe]

For more details on which Idol Lambert is attracted to, how he came out to his family, and what was going through his head when those photos of him in drag hit the web mid-season, pick up the newest issue of Rolling Stone, on stands Wednesday.

THIS Is what Rolling stone has been up to..
WHAT THE FUK!

[Peelz]

Peelz and Preddy rejoice!!!
http://ermahgerd.yahoo.com/news/adam-lambert-finally-confirms-i-m-gay/23594?nc
Adam Lambert Finally Confirms: "I'm Gay"

Matthew Rolston for Rolling StoneUs Magazine Adam Lambert finally confirms his sexuality in the new issue of Rolling Stone (on stands tomorrow).

"I don't think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I'm gay," the American Idol runner-up says.

I called it. Fairy. Little bastard can sing though.

WHy does this Story read like Preddy's unwritten autobiography? 

[Krandall]

OHHHHHHHHHHH YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090609/ap_on_re_us/us_nc_building_collapse
2 missing, 20 hurt in NC Slim Jim plant collapse


GARNER, N.C. – Officials now say only two people are unaccounted for after an explosion at a Slim Jim meat products plant in North Carolina.

Emergency Medical Services official Jeffrey Hammerstein says a third person initially declared missing was found and went to the hospital along with 20 other people. He says authorities were still searching for two others but it wasn't clear whether they were inside the building.

Hammerstein said five injured people were tagged as priority patients with serious conditions.

Several workers reported hearing an explosion before the collapse, and Garner Mayor Ronnie Williams says injuries ranged from burns to smoke inhalation. Emergency crews were keeping people away

[disco]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090609/ap_on_re_us/us_missile_hooked
Fla. fisherman hooks live missile in Gulf waters


MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – Florida authorities say a commercial fisherman reeled in a live missile in the Gulf of Mexico and kept it on his boat for 10 days.

The sheriff's office in Pinellas County say the boat's captain, Rodney Soloman, hooked the air-to-air guided missile 50 miles off the Panhandle town of Panama City. The Air Force and Navy use Gulf waters off the Panhandle for weapons training.

Soloman had the missile aboard his boat for 10 days before returning Monday to port in Madeira Beach, near St. Petersburg.

A bomb squad was called in from MacDill Air Force Base and dismantled the missile in an empty parking lot.

The bomb squad said the missile was very corroded from floating in saltwater for a long time. They said it was live and in a very unstable state.

Lucky bastid!  I'd beg them to let me keep it.  They can have the guidance and warhead, just let me hang that thing in the garage.

[Krandall]

Could the U.S. Be Drawn into a New Korean War?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090610/wl_time/08599190371700

To fear a new Korean War is historically inaccurate, because, in fact, the last one never ended: the world's most dangerous border, across which some 2 million North Korean, U.S. and South Korean troops face each other along the 38th parallel of the Korean Peninsula is, in fact, simply an armistice line. On July 27, 1953, the U.S. and North Korea signed a truce pausing, but not ending, a war that claimed more than 2 million lives, including those of 36,940 U.S. troops. And the North's recent nuclear and missile saber-rattling has many growing nervous about the potential for a resumption of hostilities.


North Korea, in fact, announced on May 27 that it was withdrawing from the armistice. It declared it could no longer guarantee the safety of ships sailing through the Yellow Sea off its western coast, and would no longer respect the legal status of several islands off South Korea's coast. It also vowed to attack South Korea if North Korean vessels suspected of smuggling nuclear and missile components are stopped and searched by a U.S.-led U.N. naval armada - a proposal currently under discussion. (See pictures of North Koreans at the polls.)


U.S. officials are concerned that political instability inside the Pyongyang regime may raise the danger of confrontation. "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il has been weakened by a stroke suffered late last year, his 26-year old heir apparent is not yet ready to take the reins and the North Korean military is eager to maintain its preeminence in the coming political succession. "Any time you have a combination of this behavior of doing provocative things in order to excite a response - plus succession questions - you have a potentially dangerous mixture," said U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair on Monday.


Despite the rising tensions, however, a number of factors militate against a new chapter being opened in the Korean War. South Korea, backed by the U.S., doesn't want war, because the North has some 13,000 artillery tubes aimed at Seoul and the more than 10 million South Koreans living within 30 miles of the DMZ. North Korea, backed by China, doesn't want war because if it comes, it all but guarantees the collapse of Kim's regime, which is also the family business. (See pictures of the rise of Kim Jong Il.)


Washington has made clear that it wants to solve this latest flare-up via diplomatic channels. "Our focus is now - and has been and likely will continue to be - on coming up with diplomatic and economic pressures that will persuade the North to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons and the platforms to deliver them," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said June 8. And if that fails? "We all need to be prudent about our planning for defensive measures." That suggests neither Washington nor Seoul is going to take preemptive military action.


The immediate priority of the U.S. and its allies is to prevent North Korea from spreading its nuclear know-how around the world. And their own lever is China's influence over the hermit regime. "There's a view that if you want to get the Chinese to act on North Korea, you need to signal a willingness to take military action," Scott Snyder, a Korea expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, said last week. "But at the same time, how do you do that - especially in conjunction with allies - without the Chinese feeling that you're trying to manipulate them tactically?"


China's role will be key, according to Larry Wortzel, who served two tours as a U.S. Army military attachÉ in Beijing. "China will not let North Korea collapse," he was told by several top People's Liberation Army officials during the Clinton Administration, according to his account in the latest issue of the U.S. Army journal Parameters. Beijing will help Pyongyang survive any sanctions. "There are limits to what the United States and its allies can do," he warns, "unless they want a complete break with, or to invite conflict with, China." China's motives are twofold: keep North Korean refugees from flooding across the border, as well as keep a U.S. ally from emerging on China's doorstep.


If it came to war, however, a key goal of any large North Korean attack would be to launch as many shells and rockets toward Seoul from its artillery tubes and launchers, many self-propelled or on railcars. The goal of U.S. and South Korean forces would be to destroy that artillery capability before too many rounds could be launched. While North Korea would build any attack around its 1.2 million–strong army, the U.S. and South Korea would rely more on their air and naval forces.


The Pentagon has largely refrained from saber-rattling, and is not planning to reinforce the 28,000 U.S. troops now in South Korea, or the 35,000 stationed in Japan. When pressed, U.S. military leaders concede that even their defensive plans will be tougher to implement given the fact that they currently have roughly 175,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. "There would have to be a level of ad hoc conglomeration of forces," General James Conway, the Marine commandant, told a Senate panel June 2. "But in the end, I am convinced we would prevail."