When a plane crash occurs, usually there are hundreds of bits of plane shattered everywhere. I watch shows like “Air Disasters”, but they never explain how they know the “right wing flap came apart mid air” or know how the “fan blade dislodged on impact and not in the air”?
In: Engineering
Additional information comes from the black box which records all kinds of information, including the pilot control inputs and readings from the various instruments in the plane. If in the black box data, the instruments all show the plane suddenly rolling over despite the pilots inputting roll in the opposite direction, it means there must have been something with the control surface or wings. Since there’s a flap on the ground several miles away from the crash, that’s a good indication that the flap failed, changing the lift from that wing and causing a roll in that direction.
They can also pull up the recordings from the pilots who won’t know exactly what’s going on, but they will at least discuss the fact that they’re trying to roll in a direction but the plane isn’t doing what they want. Loud noises can often be heard on the recording, like the banging of an engine exploding, or maybe the screw jack that holds the flaps in place snaps.
So, they put it all together: there’s a loud bang in the voice recorder, then the gyroscope shows the plane rolling hard in that direction. The pilots yank on the controls in the other direction, but the plane won’t stabilize. The pilots call out to each other what they’re experiencing, verbalizing that they’re fighting the controls but the plane isn’t behaving. On the ground, people carefully label every single piece from the wreckage and figure out exactly what it is (or was). The flap is missing, and as they comb back along the flight path, they find it miles back.
Or, basically the same sequence but with engine noises and engine power feeds and the pilots talking about losing power in engine #whatever…
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