Flight with disabled controls: Difference between revisions

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==Accidents involving experimental flights==

Thrust vectoring control [known also as jet-steering] can prevent up to 65% of all air catastrophes, including disabled Conventional Flight Control [CFC]. A few computerized studies add thrust vectoring to extant passenger airliners, like the Boeing 727 and 747[11].

===Extreme cold===

[[File:XCO-5 and Lt Macready.JPG|thumb|left|alt=A monochrome photograph of a biplane parked on an airfield, with a man posed leaning against its fuselage with his hands in his pockets|The [[Engineering Division TP-1|XCO-5]], an experimental observation biplane flown in altitude tests]]

On October 10, 1928, U.S. Army photographer [[Albert William Stevens]] and Captain [[St. Clair Streett]], the chief of the U.S. [[Aeronautical Systems Center|Army Air Corps Materiel Division's Flying Branch]], flew the [[Engineering Division TP-1|XCO-5]] experimental biplane to achieve an unofficial altitude record for aircraft carrying more than one person: {{convert|37854|ft}}; less than {{convert|1000|ft}} short of the official single-person altitude record.<ref>National Aeronautics and Space Administration. [http://history.nasa.gov/Timeline/1925-29.html Aeronautics and Astronautics Chronology, 1925–1929.] Retrieved on January 3, 2010.</ref> Stevens snapped photographs of the ground below, warmed by electrically heated mittens and many layers of clothing. At that height the men measured a temperature of {{convert|-78|F|0|adj=on}}, cold enough to freeze the aircraft controls.<ref name=PopularScience/> When Stevens was finished with his camera, Streett found that the aircraft's controls were rendered immobile in the cold, with Streett unable to reduce throttle for descent. The aircraft's engine continued to run at the high power level necessary for maintaining high altitude. Streett contemplated diving at full power, but the XCO-5 was not built for such strong maneuvers—its wings could have sheared off. Instead, Streett waited until fuel was exhausted and the engine sputtered to a stop, after which he piloted the fragile aircraft down in a gentle glide and made a [[deadstick landing]].<ref name=PopularScience/> An article about the feat appeared in ''[[Popular Science]]'' in May 1929, entitled "Stranded—Seven Miles Up!"<ref name=PopularScience>Armagnac, Alden P. ''Popular Science'', May 1929. [http://books.google.com/books?id=bCoDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22 "Stranded—Seven Miles Up!"] Retrieved on November 22, 2009.</ref>