Airbus fishtailing

L

Lindberg

Final Approach
Joined
Sep 25, 2013
Messages
7,005
Location
North Texas
Display Name
Display name:
Lindberg
Do airbuses fishtail worse than Boeing in turbulence, or is it my imagination? I'm usually on American, but have been flying United and US Air, and have noticed more of this phenomenon. Yesterday it was an A320 and pronounced fishtailing in mild turbulence on approach.
 
They don't use the rudder since flight 587 to correct for turbulence, so any fish tailing is left uncorrected.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
teejayevans said:
They don't use the rudder since flight 587 to correct for turbulence, so any fish tailing is left uncorrected.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

The FO used Excessive rudder movements which caused extreme pilot induced loading on the tail fin.

The NTSB found it was a training issue and not an aircraft issue. The pilots were lead to believe that they could apply full rudder defection in more than one direction.
 
ARFlyer said:
I thought it was just the AA training dept.? It's been two years since I took my safety class. Was that how you were trained also ?

I'm curious if it was a system wide training issue.
Click to expand...

We weren't trained TO do anything. But we weren't trained NOT to either.

Our working understanding was that maneuvering speed was defined such that the airplane would stall before damage would occur and/or full control deflection would not induce structural damage. One would assume that full deflection one way would mean you could go full deflection the other way.
 
Lindberg said:
Do airbuses fishtail worse than Boeing in turbulence, or is it my imagination? I'm usually on American, but have been flying United and US Air, and have noticed more of this phenomenon. Yesterday it was an A320 and pronounced fishtailing in mild turbulence on approach.
Click to expand...

The sensation depends on how close you are seated to the tail. The closer you are to the tail the more you will feel it. All medium to large aircraft are equipped with yaw damper to reduce the tail oscillations

José
 
Piloto said:
The sensation depends on how close you are seated to the tail. The closer you are to the tail the more you will feel it. All medium to large aircraft are equipped with yaw damper to reduce the tail oscillations

José
Click to expand...
I almost always sit over or just behind the wing, as I was on my last flight. I've never noticed such a pronounced effect on a 737, which I find myself on much more often, but I've noticed it several times on the airbuses. Could be coincidence, I guess.
 
DavidWhite said:
They're just trying to make it more like the Bonanza
Click to expand...

No Airbus could ever dream of remotely approaching the Bonanza's inherent coolness. The wagging of the tail in the Bo (which can be ameliorated in large measure by blocking the rudder pedals, BTW) is merely the effect of a joyful aircraft expressing delight at its awesomeness.
 
Lindberg said:
Do airbuses fishtail worse than Boeing in turbulence, or is it my imagination? I'm usually on American, but have been flying United and US Air, and have noticed more of this phenomenon. Yesterday it was an A320 and pronounced fishtailing in mild turbulence on approach.
Click to expand...

I remember sitting in the back row of a LH Airbus back in 2000 that fishtailed all the way from St. Petersburg, Russia to Frankfurt. I was so glad to get off that airplane...

This isn't a new issue. Why it fishtailed I don't know, but it was really annoying.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top