JetBlue plane's mechanical meltdown sends it 'careering wildly through the skies'

[B757300]

A JetBlue plane was sent careering wildly through the skies for fours after a mechanical meltdown.

The 155 people on board the Las Vegas to New York flight were left terrified as the A320 aircraft lurched from side to side and went into steep turns after its hydraulic system failed.

Travis McGhie, a passenger on the Sunday afternoon flight, said: 'It was four hours of hell.'

Another passenger, Tom Mizer, told the New York Post: 'People were getting sick. Some people were throwing up. There were a lot of people getting nauseous.'

They said that crew members of Flight 194 'did everything they could to prevent panic', with one attendant walking down the aisles trying to reassure people.

Mr Mizer said: 'She said "Look at me, I'm smiling. If I was scared, you would know it. If I'm not scared, you don't need to be."'

Mr McGhie added that there was no screaming, but 'there were definitely people reacting out loud'.

He said: 'The plane kind of felt out of control. It wasn't able to balance itself, and the air was choppy.'

The pair, both from Brooklyn, said they realized something was wrong with the aircraft as soon as they took off from Las Vegas airport.

Mr Mizer said: 'You could hear a screeching - an obvious mechanical screeching. We were bouncing around a lot.

'People on board got a little freaked. People were upset.

'Nobody was crazy, but everyone was upset. It became a long, sort of very tense waiting game.'

A pilot soon declared an emergency and radioed air traffic controllers to tell them that they had lost two hydraulic systems.

But as the plane contained five hours' worth of fuel, and the A320 cannot dump the excess, the pilots had to circle the area until they had burned enough to land safely.

The plane landed at Las Vegas' McCarran Airport at 7.37pm where the flight had taken off.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...OUR-hours.html

Now, I did not create the headline. It is the same (albeit shorter) as the source of the article.

[Evan]

Originally Posted by AvHerald

The airline reported the yellow hydraulic system had been lost.

The Aviation Herald however learned on Jun 20th that the green hydraulic system had been lost followed by an overheat indication of the yellow hydraulic system prompting the crew to report the failure of two hydraulic systems. The crew actioned the relevant checklists and were able to recover the yellow hydraulic system.

The yellow system is able to pressurize the green system via a power transfer unit, assuming the green system could hold pressure.

Loss of the green system means loss of powered gear retraction/extension, the left reverser, two spoiler panels on each wing and some braking.

The green system operates the landing gear. Perhaps this is related to the "screeching sound".

Sounds terrifying.

[Gabriel]

I really don't believe that the plane was ever out of control and "wasn't able to balance itself", even if there had been only one hydraulic systrem left (which wasn't the case).

[Evan]

It sounds like they might have shut down both the yellow and green systems for a spell. I'm guessing the wild ride was due to turbulence and manual flight control.

[Vnav]

Originally Posted by Gabriel

I really don't believe that the plane was ever out of control and "wasn't able to balance itself", even if there had been only one hydraulic systrem left (which wasn't the case).

Have you ever experienced Dutch Roll when the Yaw Damper no longer works? Certainly not "out of control"....but it will get your attention.

Not saying that's what happened, but it sounds like a possibility

[Fear_of_Flying]

The words "Jet Blue" and "meltdown" seem to be associated with each other way too often.

[Gabriel]

Originally Posted by Vnav

Have you ever experienced Dutch Roll when the Yaw Damper no longer works? Certainly not "out of control"....but it will get your attention.

Not saying that's what happened, but it sounds like a possibility

Ok, point made.
Let's ask our expert in Airbus systems, Evan:
Would the yaw damper work on only one hydro system?
Also, would the plane remain in normal law?

[MCM]

If I only had one hydro system I think I'd be putting the aeroplane on the ground pretty quickly!