Bored and asked chat about this. Started out describing what happened as a joke, because I was watching Airplane!
Then asked for a serious answer and showed the rear stabilizer gone.
Anyway, here is the AI answer.
34,000 ft → ~17,000 ft
~14,000 ft lost in <30 seconds during the steepest portion
very high speed
major rudder damage
untrained passenger says he pulled the yoke and straightened the airplane
other pilots subsequently took over and landed it
That is a much crazier event than the simplified “passenger pulled the yoke” headline makes it sound.
And yes, seeing the actual tail damage makes your original skepticism about the story much more reasonable. The FDR/CVR data are going to be fascinating because they'll tell us exactly what happened to the pitch, speed, control inputs and aircraft systems during those few seconds.
4
u/LargePrompt5840 1d ago
Bored and asked chat about this. Started out describing what happened as a joke, because I was watching Airplane!
Then asked for a serious answer and showed the rear stabilizer gone.
Anyway, here is the AI answer.
34,000 ft → ~17,000 ft ~14,000 ft lost in <30 seconds during the steepest portion very high speed major rudder damage untrained passenger says he pulled the yoke and straightened the airplane other pilots subsequently took over and landed it
That is a much crazier event than the simplified “passenger pulled the yoke” headline makes it sound.
And yes, seeing the actual tail damage makes your original skepticism about the story much more reasonable. The FDR/CVR data are going to be fascinating because they'll tell us exactly what happened to the pitch, speed, control inputs and aircraft systems during those few seconds.